Vermeer – Stratigraphy

Vermeer

Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring

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Support
simple-weave linen canvas with 14 X 14 threads per square centimeter.

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Animal glue

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Preparation
cold gray tone, mixture of gypsum, glue, linseed oil, with the addition of lead white, black, small quantities of red and brown ocher (mestica).

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Drawing
by brush with light ocher in linseed oil.

Vermeer

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Monochrome draft
painted with extreme accuracy using pigments like lead white, ivory black and burnt umber in linseed oil.

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Monochrome
executed with light layers of dark color consisting of lead white and burnt lacquer combined with boiled linseed oil.
The underlying drawing is visible through the monochrome.

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Polychrome draft
refinement of the monochrome sketch with basic colors (red ocher, red lacquer, vermilion).

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Sand
sand particles mixed with color to obtain a rough surface.

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Paint layer
oil color sometimes of considerable thickness and often performed while the underlying paint was still fresh.

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Varnish
based on natural resins.

Jan Vermeer
Girl with a Pearl Earring

c. 1665
Oil on camvas, 46,5 x 40 cm.

Vermeer, Jan (Delft 1632-1675)
Mauritshuis, The Hague