The painting Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of the greatest works by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. And one of the best love paintings in the world, it shows a striking young woman wearing an exotic costume and a turban, peering over her shoulder, straight out at the viewer. Set against a dark and unspecified background. the woman draws our eyes to her Pearl earring, the focal point of the painting. But after more than a century of study, the work poses some fascinating questions. Who is the young woman? Is the painting a portrait of a real person or a sitter representing more general characteristics of womanhood. How old is she meant to be? Is the pearl real? What's the significance of the turban? What is she thinking as she stares out at us?

In general, very little is known about Vermeer. We know he was born in 1632, spent his entire life in Delft and die in 1675. We know his works include paintings of religious and mythological themes, domestic interiors and landscapes. He never seems to have been wealthy, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings.

As far as the girl with a Pearl Earring is concerned, it seems that it wasn't meant to be a portrait, but a study of expressions, facial characteristics or other interesting features. It's true that the girl's face would probably not be considered beautiful in a conventional sense. If it had been a portrait, a painter would have worked harder to convey the sitter's beauty, even if it meant slightly distorting the truth! This kind of study was popular in Holland at the time, and would have been easy to sell. We don't know, however, if this painting was ever solved during lifetime. We don't even know if it was commissioned by Vermeer's patron, van Ruijven. We know less about the Girl with a Pearl Earring than any of Vermeer's works. Indeed, the unexplainable lack of background information may even contribute to the worldwide popularity the painting enjoys.