Girl with a Pearl Earring

Often called “The Mona Lisa of the North,” this artwork with its pure face and penetrating gaze was lost for 225 years. Rediscovered in 1881 and acquired for 2.5 guilders, it is now on display at the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer gained popularity when American novelist Tracy Chevalier, enchanted by the recently restored painting, published a novel of the same name in 1999. In 2003, a film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth also contributed to the growth of its fame and to perpetuating the fascination it arouses.