The Story behind the picture

Vivienne DuBourdieu on Girl With A Pearl Earring

As enigmatic in its way as the Mona Lisa, Johannes Vermeer�s painting, Girl With A Pearl Earring, is the starting point for an imaginary episode in Vermeer�s life.

Chiswick's Colin Firth stars as Vermeer, playing the painter as an intense, complex, and yet vulnerable man who changes subtly as a result of his relationship with the household�s maid, Griet (Scarlett Johansson).

Vermeer�s entire household is dependent on commissions from his rich patron, van Ruijven (Tom Wilkinson), and it is not long before his lascivious eye falls upon Griet. The Machiavellian patron commissions two paintings - one of the maid, to be painted in secret, another of a party scene.

As the portrait develops, the growing closeness between painter and muse becomes difficult for both of them. Tension mounts when it is revealed that another subject of Vermeer�s paintings became pregnant to van Ruijven. Ultimately, Griet�s embryonic relationship with beautiful young butcher boy (Cillian Murphy) and her tenure with Vermeer�s family are both on the line.

Throughout Peter Webber�s film, there are intriguing glimpses into the lives of people in 17th century Delft. It is finely crafted, and would be worth seeing just for its tableaux of extraordinary scenes and colours. But it rises above obvious parallels to Vermeer�s art with its depictions both of small cruelties and sublime moments during the innocent maid�s attempts to come to terms with an alien environment.

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Tracy Chevalier, A Girl With A Pearl Earring runs from 6-19 February at Waterman�s Theatre.

February 5, 2004