Jan Vermeer’s Girl and Her Promise
Wunderkammer Exhibit #10
Looking at works of art can bring comfort in dark times, or so they say. For me, at least, they regularly bring small moments of happiness. When I was denied access to the object of my desire in late November, it caused a deep melancholy in me. How was I able to overcome it?
In late 2021, the Dresden Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery) presented the most comprehensive Vermeer exhibition to date in Germany. The elaborately restored work Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window has been part of the museum’s collection since 1742 and was the most spectacular exhibit. Its story went around the world. The restoration had revealed a Cupid with a taut bow in his hand and his right foot trampling a mask on the floor. This highly symbolic detail, overpainted decades after it was created by someone other than Jan Vermeer, revealed the subject of the painting: true love.
I had purchased one of the hard-to-come-by tickets and had been looking forward to seeing the depiction of a girl for weeks. Two days before arrival, my visit was canceled because Saxony closed all cultural institutions due to the high number of daily corona cases. In addition, hotels were canceling reservations. At first I was angry and then d sad. This may sound incomprehensible to many, but for me it felt very real.
A second unpleasant winter with severe restrictions was approaching, but this time I felt it could have been avoided. I feared that something worse was looming, that Germany would go into a full lockdown, and that, once again, I would not see family and friends for months. I suspected that, once again, I would have to do without the company of people on other continents who were important to me. The cancelation of the show in Dresden was an ominous portent of things to come.
In the end, the winter was not quite as terrible as I had thought. The museums in Germany’s other federal states remained open and there were great exhibitions to see in cities such as Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Frankfurt am Main. Other cultural institutions and restaurants also stayed open for vaccinated people. Before Christmas, I was able to see my friend from London in Düsseldorf; however, it did take her several tries before she managed to return to the British Isles. Life was restricted, but we made the best of it with family and friends.
By mid-February, the skies and my mood had brightened. Case numbers were falling, we had the first sunny days, buds were sprouting on trees, and birds were chirping euphorically. I felt a little lighter, and I thought that if I couldn’t see Vermeer’s letter reader in Dresden, I would now visit another legendary girl, the one with the pearl earring in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The “Mona Lisa of the North” had ended her world tour in 2014 and could now only be seen in her hometown. On February 21, our rendezvous was about to begin. She was waiting for me in Room 15 of the museum. And how beautiful she was! Much more beautiful than Mona Lisa and every bit as mysterious.
Much has already been written about how Jan Vermeer created this mysterious figure on a 17.5 by 15 inch canvas, harnessing his conceptual and technical skills to paint the enigmatic gaze, slightly open moist lips, glowing skin, huge floating pearl, and Eastern-looking clothing of an imagined girl from Delft (where Vermeer lived and worked). The sum of all these details triggers something different in each observer. This much is known: Vermeer’s young female subject is what the Dutch call a tronie or tronje — a fictional character. She represents a certain type of woman or girl. Using infrared imaging, restorers have shown that Vermeer applied the figure to the canvas in an almost off-hand way, without sketching her in advance. She must have been very present in his mind.
Curious about what is to come
I looked at her extensively from different angles, her hybrid nature appealing to me. She seems to have existed between two worlds: she has the light complexion of a northern European, but her clothes make her seem Eastern or Middle Eastern. The turban-like headdress, together with the high-necked robe, could pass for a hijab today. At the time, many artists, authors and painters, were fascinated by the orient, even if they had never visited it (Rembrandt was among them). Merchants and noblewomen had their portraits painted in splendid, richly detailed “costumes.” What a pity it is today that instead of being fascinated and curious about the “other,” people respond with fear and hostility.
Curiosity fits in with the girl’s apparent childlike nature. It seems as if she is looking at us and encouraging us to follow her. Whatever the past may have been, she feels no resentment and is not afraid. Her next step will take her into the future. She feels anticipation — like the child in me. No matter how exhausting the past two years have been, that day the girl promised me that everything would turn out fine.
Two days after I returned from The Hague, on 24 February 2022, Putin invaded Ukraine with his army. The confidence I had received from the girl with the pearl earring is now in danger of being shattered by the images in the media. But I don’t want to let that happen. I want to keep believing that everything can be all right again — as promised by the Delft beauty.
Takeaways for innovators
- Melancholy, like euphoria, is part of life. Allow yourself to feel it for a time.
- Your thoughts are not necessarily the only truth.
- Know what brings you joy and inhale small moments of happiness every day.
Visit the girls’ homes in Dresden and The Hague
Those who want to get a close-up look at Jan Vermeer’s beautiful girls can do so at these locations:
Girl with the Pearl Earring and two other works by Vermeer can be admired at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands, which celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2022. To mark the milestone birthday, there are a couple of special events at the museum and features on the website. Several famous works by Rembrandt, such as “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” and “Saul and David”, are also part the Mauritshuis collection.
The elaborately restored Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window can be seen in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. The weborello “Johannes Vermeer. On Reflection” (German version only) with videos on the research and restoration of the work is also highly recommendable.
Author’s note: In view of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, discussions of art and aesthetics might seem comparatively unimportant, but I am deeply convinced that we all need our little moments of joy to keep our balance. In this sense, my article should be understood as an impetus to look for such moments. We need not feel shame when we look for beauty in these times. It arms us for the unpredictable and empowers us to use the means at our disposal.
