Girl with a Pearl Earring

این کتاب نوشته تریسی شوالیه (Tracy Chevalier) نویسنده فرانسوی- سوئیسی است که این کتاب را در امریکا و به عنوان دومین اثرش منتشر کرد و با استقبال زیاد مخاطبین و منتقدین مواجه شد. این رمان در تلاش است که با تکیه بر آثار نقاشی یوهانس ورمر (Johannes Vermeer) ، نقاش هلندی 1675-1632، و جمع آوری اطلاعات تاریخی درباره شرایط اجتماعی زندگی در هلند قرن هفدهم به بازسازی و یا بازتعریف زندگی ورمر بپردازد. محور اصلی این کتاب تابلوی دختری با گوشواره مروارید (Girl with Pearl Earring) است، که شوالیه دختر این تصویر را به عنوان راوی داستانش انتخاب می کند و با وی به درون زندگی شخصی و کاری ورمر سرک می کشد.
اکثر آثار ورمر پرتره هایی از طبقه معمولی و بورژوا در حین انجام کار یا زندگی روزمره اند. تنها اثر وی که هیچ توجهی به حرفه، مکان و زمان مدل ندارد تابلوی دختری با گوشواره مروارید است. این تابلو که سال خلق آن بین سالهای 1675-1665 تخمین زده می شود با تکنیک رنگ روغن روی بوم نقاشی شده است و به خاطر زاویه مدیوم شات، لباس های خارج از عرف و تاحدی نامانوس، پس زمینه سیاه بدون درج و ثبت هرگونه وسیله، لوازم یا نشانه ای که به ما درباره این فرد و شرایطش آدرسی بدهد به شدت محل شک و حدس و گمانهای فراوان درباره هویت این مدل شده است. گمان ها برای شناسایی معمولا در سه فرد خلاصه شده است: ماریا ورمر (دختر بزرگ یوهانس)، مدلینا ون روی ون (دختر دوست و حامی یوهانس ورمر) و مدل گمنامی که در خانه ورمر به عنوان پیشخدمت کار می کرد. شوالیه با گمان سوم جلو می رود.
در روایت شخصی شوالیه از این تابلو، این دختر، گری یت است؛ دختر یک کاشی ساز فقیر که برای کار و کمک مالی به خانواده اش به عنوان پیشخدمت به خانه ورمر نقاش می رود. وظیفه او علاوه بر انجام کارهای روزمره عادی نظیر شستن، اتو کردن، خرید و... تمیز کردن آتلیه نقاشی ورمر است. گری یت از 16 تا 18 سالگی در خانه ورمر کار می کند و در همان نگاه اول به ورمر دل می بندد و در خیال نوجوانانه خویش ورمر را هم دلبسته خود می پندارد.
این کتاب درباره ی تابلویی به همین نام که توسط یان ورمر کشیده شده و در حال حاضر در موزه ی ماوریتس هویس لاهه(هلند) نگهداری می شود نوشته شده . این تابلوی زیبا بر خلاف بیشتر آثار ورمر و دیگر نقاشان دوران خودش ظاهری مرموز دارد. تصاویر کلاسیک و رئال آن دوران یا تصویری از طبیعت و شهرها هستند و یا حالات انسانی و جو آن زمان را منتقل می کنند . مثل زنی که در حال ریختن شیر در کاسه است . گروهی که موسیقی می نوازند . مجالس و جشن های اشرافی و مردمی و صحنه هایی دیگر به همین سبک . با این حال دختری تنها و جوان در یک تابلو با زمینه ی کاملا خالی و سیاه می تواند متمایز از بقیه باشد . ما نمی توانیم بفهمیم که این دختر با این نگاه نافذ و لباسی که چندان عادی و رایج نبوده فقیر است یا اشراف زاده ؟ شاد است یا غمگین؟ به چه فکر می کند ؟ و یا کجاست ؟

An utter joy to read. Really engaging, historically interesting, with strong characterisation and beautiful writing. I will definitely be picking up more by her!

„Fata cu cercel de perlă” este o carte sugestivă și emoționantă, iar Tracy Chevalier face o treabă fabuloasă de a prinde și de a descrie sentimentele și de a demonstra emoțiile pe care le are Griet pentru a-și părăsi familia unită protestantă pentru a trăi cu faimosul pictor Vermeer și familia sa catolică în perioada secolului al 17-lea în Delft.

Să-ți imaginezi cum a fost pentru o fetiță de 16 ani să părăsească confortul propriei case și să-și abandoneze relațiile cu familia este compleșitor. Chevalier prezintă minunat conflictul intern pe care Griet îl are de-a lungul cărții. Este împărțită între a-și face munca și ceea ce simte că este cel mai bun pentru relațiile sale cu cei pe care îi iubește.

Această carte nu este deloc lungă și se citește repede, întrucât ești captivat și atras de viața și relațiile lui Griet cu fiul măcelarului, fratele ei și sora ei nefericită. Este plină de suferință și triumf și mă face să mă întreb despre povestea din spatele tuturor tablourilor

O poveste captivantă care mi-a plăcut mult și pe care o pot recomanda cu drag.

Most of us know the painting, if not by name, but by sight at least. You might have even watched the movie starring Colin Firth (!!) and Scarlett Johanssen. Many of us might have heard of Johannes Vermeer, the artist behind this painting. But have you ever wondered, who is the girl in the painting? What is her story? What lies behind that indecipherable expression?

Ever since I read The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant, I have loved books which involve art and artists. I don't claim to have much knowledge about art, but as a layperson I can say that the book, Girl With a Pearl Earring is evocative and mesmerizing.

Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer (1632-1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life.The painting Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer's masterworks and as the name implies, uses a pearl earring for a focal point. Today the painting is kept in the Mauritshuis gallery in the Hague. It is sometimes referred to as "the Mona Lisa of the North" or "the Dutch Mona Lisa". (Source: Wikipedia)

Girl with a Pearl Earing by Tracy Chevalier is the story of Griet, a young girl who is sent to work at Vermeer's house as a maid. Her father is no longer able to support the family, following an accident that leaves him blind. As a result, Griet is uprooted from all that she has known to a completely unfamiliar environment.

Griet is in charge of cleaning Vermeer's studio, a place where hardly anyone, not even his wife Catharina, is allowed to enter. For Griet, the studio is like a mysterious and enchanted land. Even before she has met him, she is drawn to Vermeer and his paintings. Soon, Vermeer is enamored by this quiet and scared young girl. Thus, starts the journey towards Vermeer's most celebrated painting.

Girl with a Pearl Earring is a fascinating portrayal of the mystery behind the painting. Somehow, reading this book, makes the painting more magical and beautiful in my eyes. Perhaps, the actual story will forever remain unknown but Tracy Chevalier's take is enough to satisfy one's curiosity about the painting.

I felt for Griet right from the start. Griet, in her innocence, unknowingly causes conflict within Vermeer's family as the artist's obsession with her grows. At the same time, she's as captivated by him, as he by her.

"He saw things in a way that others did not, so that a city I had lived in all my life seemed a different place, so that a woman became beautiful with the light on her face."

One of my only problems with the book is that the author fails to create a very vivid portrayal of 17th century Delft. However, there's so much eloquence and passion in the way the author describes Vermeer, his paintings and his relationship with Griet, that it's easy to overlook any flaws. The book's premise is what won me over and kept me engaged throughout.

One of the best parts about the book are the diverse characters. There's the mysterious Vermeer, his jealous bitter wife, Catharina and his powerful, controlling mother-in-law, Maria. The author has depicted the power-play, class system, poverty, the terrible conditions of the poor, religious prejudices and women's position in 17th century Holland. It may seem like a simple story, but it has so many complexities.

There's so much left unsaid between Griet and Vermeer that it breaks your heart. Till the end I kept on asking myself - What is it between the two of them? It did not seem like love to me, but more like an intense longing and desire. I think everyone will have their own take on this.

The movie, I think, captures the beauty and sensuality of the book. It's not perfect, but it's much better than most book-to-movie adaptations. According to the author :
"I love the film. It is like and yet not like the book, rather in the way sisters resemble each other yet also have distinctive personalities.

As you would expect of a film about Vermeer, it is ravishing to look at – each scene beautifully lit and composed, almost like a succession of would-be Vermeer paintings, with some Rembrandts and de Hoochs thrown in for fun. Colin Firth is excellent as Vermeer, managing to retain the painter’s mystery even as we get to know him. But the film belongs to Scarlett Johannson, who is only 18 and has maybe 60 words of dialogue, yet packs so much into her luminous face that I couldn’t take my eyes off her."
(Source: Tracy Chevalier's Website)

Overall:
An entrancing take on the story of the girl in Vermeer's most famous painting

Recommended:
Yes! Historical Fiction fans will enjoy this.

Another one of my wife's recommendations (I read a lot of books that way), I picked it up from the bookshelf the night we came back from seeing the film with Scarlett Johansonn and Colin Firth. I loved the movie--it was just so incredibly sumptuous--and was curious to know the story in the novel, which I knew from experience, and from my wife's continuous comments, would be different, more detailed. I was right.

Chevalier has won a place in my heart and bookshelf. Her novels are well-crafted, simple to follow, and addictive; Girl was no exception. The story of the maid Griet in 1600's Delft, Holland, was amazing in its simple prose and endless emotion. Completely fictional (no one knows who exactly were the models for any of Vermeer's paintings), it nonetheless possesses a veracity that makes you believe Chevalier found the long-lost journal of this unknown woman and wrote her novel based on it. The details of seventeen century Holland are rich; you feel you are walking the canal-lined streets of Delft, smelling the pungent scents of the Meat Market, holding your breath as Vermeer paints next to you. Griet is a wonderful protagonist, taking you into her world, yet retaining a few secrets for herself, especially where Vermeer is concerned.

Girl is one of those novels that truly invites you, and almost kidnaps you, to become part of the story, to walk next to the characters, to share in their lives, to feel as they feel. Watch the movie, by all means (the photography is absolutely incredible), but then read the novel and get the whole story. You will not be disappointed.

“I heard voices outside our front door - a woman's, bright as polished brass, and a man's, low and dark like the wood of the table I was working on. They were the kind of voices we heard rarely in our house. I could hear rich carpets in their voices, books and pearls and fur.”

n  n
The Girl With the Pearl Earring

When the Vermeers came to visit Griet’s home she had no idea they were there for her. Her parents had decided, given their near destitution, to find Griet a position as a maid with a wealthy family. Her older brother had already been placed in a Delft tile factory. It was now her turn to earn the food that made it’s way into her belly. She was, after all, seventeen.

Johannes Vermeer was a master painter, recognized even in his own time as one of the best, but he was a slow painter. He would only paint when he was inspired to paint. An empty purse or a rumbling stomach were never enough inspiration to make him paint faster. He averaged only two to three paintings a year. As someone who has always admired his paintings I do wish he had been more prolific with his brush, but the fact that there are so few paintings by Vermeer make them all the more precious.

Griet is thrown into this chaotic household. The house is brimming with children, too many children even by the standards of the day. Catharina, Vermeer’s wife, liked being pregnant and though the added burden of a new mouth to feed each year places extra financial stress on her husband and her mother Maria Thins she is oblivious to the consequences. Their fortunes wane and fall based more on the property incomes of her mother than on the commissioned paintings of Vermeer. Each year the purse strings get pulled a bit tighter.

There is one patron, a man who has bought several Vermeer paintings, who they all have to curry favor with...Van Ruijven. His wealth infuses him with an air of entitlement. He is used to getting what he wants and when he sees the wide eyed beauty who has just joined Vermeer’s household he decides he wants her.

Vermeer has found from the very beginning that Griet is different. She sees the world as a painter sees the world. He finds reasons to have her help him by grinding paints and assisting with the objects that populate his paintings. It is only natural that a young girl would start to have feelings and dreams regarding a man such as Vermeer. He is not only talented, but he is also attractive with those gray eyes that see so much more than anyone else.

”I did not like to think of him in that way, with his wife and children. I preferred to think of him alone in his studio. Or not alone, but with only me.”

She becomes very adept at lying so she can spend more time in the studio.

n  n
The soldier in The Procuress reminds me of Van Ruijven. One of the most interesting things about this painting is the precariously perched pitcher. It makes me so nervous that I want to reach into the painting and move it to somewhere safer.

Van Ruijven, like odious men always seem to be, is adept at finding young women alone. He is not wanting to gossip with her or exchange thoughts about the weather or to woo her or to cajole her into parting with her charms. His hands with fingers like hooks push against her clothes weighing the curve and shape of her. She has to fend him off without offending him.

Griet has another man in her life, not one that she would choose, but one that is infatuated with her. Pieter, the butcher’s son, wants to make her his wife. Being the wife of a butcher is a dream for many women because she and her family will always be well fed. A butcher is miles away from dream landscape of being the wife of a master painter.

Tracy Chevalier has deftly conceived the possibility of The Girl with the Pearl Earring being a maid in the Vermeer household. With each new revelation the tensions between Griet and Catharina tighten like lute strings pressing into tender flesh. Maria Thins, a realist, runs interference between all parties as best she can, but Catharina beset by jealousy and churlishness has difficulty seeing the bigger picture. I’ve read where other reviewers were disappointed in this book. They felt that very little happened, but they must be the same people who think baseball is boring.

I was on the edge of my seat while reading this book as if I were watching a ten pitch at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. The deception of the pitcher trying to outmatch the quick hands of the batter. The shifting of the outfield depending on the ball the pitcher intends to throw next. The subtle communications between the catcher and the pitcher. Add a base runner at first and now the situation feels like Griet trying to maneuver her way through a world of lust, deviousness, and deceit. Does she run or does she wait for something to happen?

There are lots of moments that need no dialogue as Griet experiences impossible longings…“I could not think of anything but his fingers on my neck, his thumb on my lips.” There are things we can’t say because they can not be unsaid.

n  n
Scarlett Johansson played Griet in the 2003 movie of The Girl With the Pearl Earring.

The painting that Vermeer paints of Griet is a compromise to Van Ruijven who wanted much, much more. With her direct gaze at her audience and the slight parting of her lips this is an acceptable form of pornography, slightly scandalous, fodder for gossips, but not anything that could bring unwanted attention from the authorities. It gives Griet a shiver to think of her captured innocence resting under the lecherous eyes of Van Ruijven, but better a painting than losing that which she wishes to give her future husband.

I bought a canvas copy of The Girl With the Pearl Earring last year. The print is gallery wrapped which gives the painting animation as if it can jump away from the wall and walk into this life. She is hung over the staircase with enough light from the window over the door to show off the skill of Vermeer to illuminate. When people walk in the door they are struck as millions over centuries have been struck. People who don’t know a Vermeer from a Dali have to take a moment to access and appreciate her lustrous beauty. From where I sit to read I can see her and occasionally she catches my eye, a flirtation that makes me feel years younger.

”I looked at the painting one last time, but by studying it so hard I felt something slip away. It was like looking at a star in the night sky--if I looked at one directly I could barely see it, but if I looked from the corner of my eye it became much brighter.”

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
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تمام.... خب.
کتابی که به اندازه تار موهام تعریفش رو شنیده بودم رو بالاخره تموم کردم.
اول اینکه داستان چندان قوی نبود، منظورم این نیست که کشش لازم رو نداشت، نه، اتفاقا هرچقدر بیشتر میخوندم، بیشتر برای خوندن رغبت داشتم، اما، این حقیقت که داستان کاملا قابل پیش بینی بود روی همه لذت خوندنش سایه انداخت.
بنظرم بهترین قسمت کتاب، توصیف های اون بودن! چقدر ملموس!
اما چیز هایی که داستان رو جالب کرده بود، تفاوت افکار در پروتستان ها و کاتولیک ها بود که خب تو خیلی از کتاب ها ازش استفاده شده. دومین مورد عشقی بود که از اولین صفحه کتاب، چشمم رو درد آورد. راستش از این لحاظ باید بگم که خیلی کلیشه ای بود.
خب، درنهایت از خوندش لذت بردم، اما دوباره نمیخونمش.
حداقل نه تا وقتی که تصویر ستاره ۸ ضلعی و کلیسای نوین از ذهنم بیرون بره.

پ.ن: الان داشتم آهنگ این کتاب رو گوش میدادم و اون حس مرموز فراموشی زمان و مکان بهم دست داد، گفتم آهنگش رو بزارم که شما هم ازش لذت ببرید.
https://youtu.be/powCHN8DdXA

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Historical Fiction

Griet, who is 16 years old and lives in Delft during the 17th century, seeks employment as a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer, a well-known painter. Griet's family is struggling financially as a result of her father's accident. In order to cope with the rigid social hierarchy, Griet carefully cleans, cooks, and monitors the busy everyday activities of the household. Vermeer gets captivated by her because of her humble nature and strong eye for detail, and she quickly finds herself dragged into the artistic world that he creates.

Griet becomes the painter's improbable muse, assisting him with the preparation of his studio and with the mixing of paints. A mutual understanding between the two that develops in silence helps them to overcome their social differences. But this relationship doesn't go well with the other household members, especially with Vemeer's wife, Catharina.

This is a well-written book that covers a very interesting era and revolves around an intriguing character. It fascinates me that the author drew inspiration from the painting and developed a tale that centers on the artist who created it. The book tackles many important themes from that period of time, be it social class, the nature of affairs back then, or how poverty used to be. Although the ending felt somehow ambiguous, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of this novel. If you read this novel and liked it, watch the movie adaptation because that one is fantastic too.