Miniature porcelain picture "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1665), framed
Miniature porcelain picture "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1665), framed
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miniature picture on porcelain | handmade | passe-partout | solid wood frame | size 9.7 x 10.8 cm
Detailed description
Miniature porcelain picture "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1665), framed
For centuries, miniature pictures made of fine porcelain were produced mostly for aristocratic collectors. This miniature painting bears a museum masterpiece that is transferred by hand onto genuine Thuringian porcelain, fired twice and mounted on a pastel-coloured passe-partout. Afterwards, the shiny gold edge is applied by hand with a metal leaf. The valuable overall picture is rounded off by a solid wood frame that has been primed and sanded several times. Size 9.7 x 10.8 cm. Original: Oil on canvas, Mauritiushuis, The Hague.
Producer: ars mundi Edition Max Büchner GmbH, Bödekerstraße 13, 30161 Hanover, Germany, [email protected]
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About Jan Vermeer van Delft
Jan Vermeer is one of the most important Dutch painters of the Baroque epoch. He was baptised on October 31, 1632 in Delft and buried there on December 15, 1675. As there was no school of painting in Delft at that time, the son of a silk weaver, art dealer and innkeeper was trained as a craftsman. His admission to the Delft Guild of St. Luke in 1650 testifies to his activity as a master painter. Only 37 of his paintings have survived to this day. His main theme was genre painting, as there are only a few portraits or religious paintings in his œuvre.
The interior views radiate silence, security, and inner peace. The painter from Delft was able to achieve these effects with subtle colour harmonies and refined shadows. He was also a master of the photographic perspective. The genre paintings show few figurative scenes, to which symbolic content is often attributed.
A special mention should be given to Vermeer's Delft City View of 1661, whose naturalism testifies to a high level of mastery. In addition, "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" became the epitome of beauty and grace. For the painter, it was a challenge to bring the viewer into contact with the model. The young woman's eye contact skilfully establishes a connection, but at the same time achieves distance again through the body that is turned away. Many generations of art lovers have rightly been fascinated by the extraordinary expression of this painting.
Vermeer strove for perfection in his painting, often produced only just four paintings a year. As a result, the father of eleven children struggled with financial hardship, which increased during the last years of his life. Right after his death, Jan Vermeer fell into oblivion. It was not until the middle of the 19th-century that people learned to appreciate the quality of his paintings.
Term used to describe the art of the 17th century. The Baroque art style, which originated in Rome around 1600, quickly spread through the visual arts, literature, and music across nerly all of Europe, lasting in the visual arts until 1770. The final phase is generally characterised by Rococo.
Characteristic features include: the pulsating movement of all forms, the abolition of boundaries between architecture, painting, and sculpture, leading to the typical "Gesamtkunstwerk" ("total work of art"), and, above all, the purposeful use of light, which became an important artistic component. The subordination of the individual parts to the whole resulted in the creation of a unified yet dynamic space, which is fully expressed in the magnificent buildings of this period.
The Baroque art, with its penchant for grandeur, splendour, and rushing abundance, clearly reflects the desire for representation, which was a concern of secular and ecclesiastical, especially the Catholic patrons strengthened by the Counter-Reformation. In painting, characteristic features of the Baroque, are manifested in altar and ceiling painting, history scences and portraits.
Typical representatives include artists such as Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, as well as Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the field of sculpture.
Ceramic product made of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar.
Porcelain is formed by turning or pressing, and figurative objects are cast. Complex objects have to be cast in separated steps and sections, and then "assembled". After the moulding, the pieces are dried and undergo an initial firing at about 900°C. Next, the glaze will be applied and fired at temperatures between 1,240 °C and 1,445 °C. In renowned manufactories, the porcelain is painted by hand, with each colour being fired individually under strict temperature tolerances.
Porcelain was invented in China and became widespread in Europe from the 16th century onwards. The first European porcelain factory was founded in Meissen, Germany in 1710.
Other famous European porcelain factories include Fürstenberg, Höchst, Schwarzburger Werkstätten, Lladró, Nymphenburg, KPM, Augarten, Sèvres, Limoges, Royal Copenhagen, Worcester. Each factories label their products with their personal porcelain stamps to indicate their origin.