Of all the girls in all the world’s paintings, only one has inspired a novel, a film, and an exhibition attracting 650,000 visitors, all the while evading every attempt to be identified. When Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring” (circa 1665) was initially auctioned in 1696, its title was simply, “Een Tronie in Antique Klederen, ongemeen konstig,” or “A tronie in antique dress, uncommonly artful.”
The term “tronie” originates from the Dutch Golden Age and refers to a painting of a fictitious character rather than a portrait of a specific model or patron. Though many tronies were painted from live models, their artistic intention was to create a hypothetical, idealized subject without any obligation to attribute it.
