In the Light of Vermeer

In 1966, the Mauritshuis staged an exhibition entitled, In the Light of Vermeer: Five Centuries of Painting. Inspiration was drawn from A. B. de Vries who had thought of "arranging an exhibition which would break with tradition and current classifications and be based solely on the principle of quality and affinities. Paintings which often dated from different periods and belonging to different schools were brought together in order to confront the public with the final and unassailable truth which only comes out in the most perfect art." Forty paintings which possessed similar degree of perfection and of common ideal were gathered around 11 of Vermeer's own works.

The following virtual exhibition gathers a group of seven paintings whose formal and expressive perfection are linked to the Girl with a Pearl Earring rather than to the whole of Vermeer's oeuvre.

Robert Campin, The Master of Flémalle

Portrait of a Woman
c. 1430
oil on wood
41 x 28 cm
National Gallery, London

Rogier van derWeyden

Lady Wearing a Gauze Headdress
c. 1445
oil on oak panel
47 x 32 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Petrus Christus

Portrait of a Young Girl
after 1460
oil on wood
29 x 22,5 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Maerten van Heemskerck

Portrait of Anna Codde
1520
oil on canvas
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Georges de la Tour

The Dice Player
oil on canvas
92.5 x 130.5 cm.
Middlesborough, the Teeide Museums

Jan Scorel

Portrait of a Young Girl
Galleria Doria Pamphili, Rome

Georges de la Tour

Fortune Teller
1632-35
oil on canvas
102 x 123,5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York