Dimensions 31 cm x 23 cm 12" x 9" 300 pieces About Girl with a Pearl Earring Girl with a Pearl Earring is an oil painting by Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer, dated c. 1665. It is his most famous work of art. Girl with a Pearl Earring is not a portrait, but a “tronie”: a painting of an imaginary, idealized figure. While many of Vermeer’s paintings depict women involved in daily tasks, such as chores, reading or writing, Girl with a Pearl Earring features an unidentified young woman doing nothing but looking over her shoulder. The intimacy of her gaze makes her seem familiar; her ambiguous expression heightens the enigmatic nature of the masterpiece.