Original copy of Vermeer's The Girl with the Pearl Earring - Sold Painting

The Girl with the Wonky Eyeball Johannes Vermeer was a master of light but his anatomy could sometimes stretch a point. Consider the sitter’s right eye in this famous painting. You’ll notice the white of the eye - the sclera - abuts the dark background. Now I’m not saying that’s impossible but it is, shall we say, unusual. Not many portrait eyeballs touch their backgrounds, well, not pre-Picasso anyway. If you modelled the head in clay you’d have to fudge it in this area. Not that it matters. The painting is sublimely beautiful and transcends any anomalies. And I’m sure I’m not the first to observe this. There’s probably a whole literature on the white of the girl’s eye. Wonky is rather too disparaging. In truth, I only noticed it when I came to paint this copy of The Girl with the Pearl Earring. It proves to me, yet again, the only lesson I ever learn from copying masters such as Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Vermeer, Corot and others, is how supremely out of reach they are. I couldn’t fake them if I tried. I can only copy and admire. NB: Though described on this site as 'oil on wood', this work is actually painted in oils on a gessoed panel. The panel is made of hardboard, known in the US as Masonite.