From the identity of the young woman in Johannes Vermeer’s most famous painting, the Girl With a Pearl Earring, to the techniques he employed, much about the Dutch master remains a mystery.
The lack of certainty about the life and works of the Sphinx of Delft, as he was known, has now injected a little controversy – and perhaps even some inter-institutional tension, albeit politely denied – ahead of what is being billed as the biggest ever exhibition of his paintings, in Amsterdams’ Rijksmuseum, next February.
