great portraits #8



Two hundred years separate the Portrait of a Girl by Petrus Christus and Jan Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, but there seems to be some intangible connection between the two. Vermeer would probably have known the Petrus painting, and his 'girl' may even be a homage to it. If so, he must have decided to depict the other side of the coin, because this girl is quite the opposite of her moody, austere fifteenth century counterpart - she's bright, open, animated, smiling and relaxed. The painting has been beautifully restored and probably looks as fresh today as it did on the day the Master of Delft applied the final brushstroke to it.