I want to preface this by stating that I know next to nothing about art or art history but I really thought this book sounded interesting. Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is about the creation of the painting Girl With A Pearl Earring by Vermeer. It tells the story of young Griet, a Dutch teenager who has to find work after her father’s accident rendered him blind and unable to. She finds work as a live-in maid for a more prosperous family. There Griet works alongside the cook to help take care of the house and the ever-expanding number of children for the family. At the same time she ends up butting heads with the mistress who seems to dislike her. However, things become complicated when Griet starts assisting the master of the house, the famous painter Johannes Vermeer, instead of just cleaning. This complicates things because he is well known for not allowing people to enter his workshop, let alone to actually assist him in preparing his paints or workspace. As she continues to assist the painter the lines start becoming blurred as things are no longer quite so clear-cut as to what their role or relationship actually is.
This book was actually really fascinating as it provided an interesting backstory for how the painting originated. Perhaps the most fascinating part is that it is not told from the painter’s perspective, in fact it never reveals what Vermeer was thinking about much of anything actually. The entire story is told from Griet’s point of view and we only know what she knows and only when she knows it. This creates an interesting picture of how the painting came to be. It revolves around the idea that someone who would have probably been overlooked, such as a maid, could inspire what is arguably consider an artistic masterpiece. Technically speaking, this story is entirely fiction as no one knows for certain who actually is portrayed in this painting but I will admit that this version was intriguing. The story builds up to the creation of the painting though as it starts with her becoming a maid in the Vermeer household. It gradually builds up the tension by hinting at the idea of something potentially developing between Griet and Vermeer that would have led to him painting her. In fact, it also helps build the tension by hinting he is reluctant to do so and only does so to pacify his wealthy sponsor who had spotted Griet and become besotted by her. The tension that takes over the latter part of the book is basically a case of will he or won’t he for a large part of it and even after he agrees to do so there is still a lot of tension around what it means to them for him to do so. I found it interesting that a large part of that tension is that Griet and possibly Vermeer as well are trying to deny that there might be something developing between them. Neither come right out and say but as the narrator Griet does seem to hint around the idea of there being something a lot. I found this whole story incredibly fascinating and it kind of makes me wonder, what was the real inspiration for the painting and who was actually in the painting. This book gets 4.5 out of 5 stars from me.
In terms of genre this book is a wonderful piece of historical fiction, and one that is based in the 1600’s in the Netherlands. If you happen to enjoy historical fiction, especially that particular time period, then I would suggest you consider trying this book as it happens to be pretty good. I would also suggest this book for anyone who enjoys the topics of art or art history as this may be interesting for them as well. However, I am not sure how well it would appeal to readers who prefer other genres. In terms of age range, this book is probably aimed at adult readers so it would probably hold the most appeal for them. That being said, there is nothing present in the book in terms of content or themes that would make it unsuitable for young adult or teen readers. There is no violence and little mature content. There is actually very little direct romantic content of any kind either so I would have no problem with recommending it to that age range. A pretty good book overall so feel free to share your thoughts about it in the comments.