Delft: The Girl With a Pearl Earring

Delft's canals are used for transportation, and also to manage excess water in this town built beneath sea level.

We traveled to Delft at the end of September. It’s a beautiful little city, built around numerous picturesque canals. Delft is known for the pottery that bears its name. Delftware first appeared in the 1600s, imitating the popular blue and white porcelain that was being produced in China at the time. At one time the Delft pottery works was the main tourist attraction, but these days the 17th century painter Johannes Vermeer is the main attraction in Delft.

In 1999 author Tracy Chevalier wrote a best-selling book that was inspired by Vermeer’s painting The Girl With a Pearl Earring. A 2003 movie of the same name, starring Scarlett Johansson, was based on Chevalier’s book. As a result, Vermeer’s fetching image of a young girl with a pearl earring has become a Dutch icon. And nowhere in the Netherlands is The Girl With a Pearl Earring more popular than in Johannes Vermeer’s hometown of Delft. That’s where Vermeer painted the majority of his works, including this one. 

There’s not much left in Delft that’s “original Vermeer.” The house he lived and painted in was torn down in the 18th century to make way for a church addition. And sadly, Delft does not have possession of any of Vermeer’s original paintings. But reproductions of his work are everywhere- in the shops, restaurants, hotels, and in the streets. And no image of Vermeer’s work is encountered more than The Girl With a Pearl Earring. We found her EVERYWHERE, and in some surprising forms. 

Girl With a Pearl Earring mosaic, posed photo portrait, abstraction, and mural

Delftware, a finger puppet, Girl With a Pearl Earring liqueur, and candy tins

And...OF COURSE...a Girl With a Pearl Earring bicycle!