Girl with a Pearl Earring holds a special place in Vermeer’s oeuvre, which for the most part is comprised of domestic interior scenes. The Girl is silhouetted against a dark background, which makes her face appear lighter, enhancing the three-dimensional effect of the composition. In contrast to the face, the headdress and jacket are painted in a more free and spontaneous manner. The softening of transitions and contours in the face, rather than using sharp lines and definitions, creates the effect of sfumato (after Leonardo da Vinci). Her skin is soft and smooth, with an impeccable transition from light to dark from one side of her face to the other. The painting does not depict a specific person, but was intended as a tronie: a character study of a girl dressed in exotic costume. The idealised figure in Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. Finally, cross-section analysis identified the formation of new lead species in the paints: lead soaps and palmierite (K 2Pb(SO 4) 2), associated with the red lake.
Lead isotope analysis showed that the geographic source of lead, from which the different types of lead white were manufactured, was the same: the region of Peak District of Derbyshire, UK. Vermeer intentionally used different qualities or grades of lead white in the flesh paints, showing different hydrocerussite/cerussite ratios and particle sizes. Macroscopic imaging was complemented by the study of paint cross-sections using: light microscopy, SEM–EDX, FIB-STEM, synchrotron radiation µ-XRPD and FTIR–ATR. It also revealed details that were otherwise not visible with the naked eye, such as the eyelashes. The combination of advanced imaging techniques highlighted that Vermeer built the soft contour around her face by leaving a ‘gap’ between the background and the skin. He then smoothly blended the final layers to create almost seamless transitions. Vermeer built up the face, beginning with distinct areas of light and dark. It combines macroscopic X-ray fluorescence imaging (MA-XRF), reflectance imaging spectroscopy (RIS), and 3D digital microscopy. This paper describes the materials and techniques Vermeer used to accomplish the smooth flesh tones and facial features of the Girl, which were investigated as part of the 2018 Girl in the Spotlight research project. The soft modelling of the skin tones in Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (Mauritshuis) has been remarked upon by art historians, and is their main argument to date this painting to c.
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