Chevalier, Tracy "Girl with a Pearl Earring" - 1999
16 year old Griet from Delft is a maid in the house of the famous
Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. She doesn't just become a good help, she also is the model for
his famous picture "Girl with a Pearl Earring".
The author describes the way a painting is done, the politics behind it, the life in the 1600s both in poor and rich houses.
This was the first of many books by Tracy Chevalier that I read.
Read more on my original post here.
This is such a great read! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked it, as well. Our book club members all loved it. Thanks, Lark.
DeleteIt is such a great read. I just love Vermeer and have read several books about him and his times. His paintings are some of my favourite ones. Tracy Chevalier's account of this painting is great. I have just read another one by her; The Lady and the Unicorn, which was also good. I have to look out for her other books. I presume she is continuing making stories of paintings? That is a total fascinating aspect for me. I have some favourite paintings on which I ponder. Who was the artist? What was he/she doing? Their lives and so on. Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteSame here, Lisbeth. And I totally agree, he was a fantastic painter and I really love his paintings. I saw quite a few of them in their original already (mainly in NL, of course).
DeleteTracy Chevalier doesn't just write about painters and paintings but she always has an interesting topic and an interesting woman in her stories.