For centuries, “Girl with a Pearl Earring” has continued to stare at us in silence, with that look that seems to know more than it wants to say. A portrait so perfect that it seems alive, yet so mysterious that it leaves room for infinite questions: who really is that girl?
Now, according to British art critic and historian Andrew Graham-Dixon, we may finally have an answer. In his new book “Vermeer: A Life Lost and Found”the author claims to have discovered the true identity of the most enigmatic face of Dutch painting: it would be Magdalena van Ruijven, the daughter of the two patrons who financed Johannes Vermeer.
A face, a family and a secret
Until now, scholars had hypothesized that the model was a young servant or even the daughter of the painter himself. But Graham-Dixon turns everything on its head. Magdalena van Ruijven, according to her research, would have been around twelve years old at the time of the painting’s creation, in 1665. An age that matches that of the young woman portrayed.
And not only that: Magdalena’s parents — Pieter Claesz van Ruijven and Maria de Knuijt — were Vermeer’s main financiers, so much so that they guaranteed him economic stability for much of his career. It is therefore plausible that the artist wanted to reciprocate that support with a personal portrait of their only daughter. In short, the famous “girl” would not be a stranger, but the daughter of the couple who made Vermeer’s talent possible.
Behind the pearl, a symbol
Graham-Dixon analysis goes beyond simple face recognition. It also reveals a symbolic meaning: the pearl, the absolute protagonist of the painting, would not only be a jewel, but a reference to Mary Magdalene, the biblical figure of redemption. A connection that was anything but casual, given that the girl’s name was Magdalena.
The critic hypothesizes that Vermeer – an artist with a profound spirituality – wanted to represent the purity that comes from forgiveness, a theme very close to the religious principles of the Remonstrants, a moderate Protestant movement to which the painter belonged.
And it’s no small detail: the young woman’s mother, Maria de Knuijt, was one of the local leaders of that community. In the painting, therefore, we could read a double level: a family portrait and a spiritual reflection, mixed with the delicacy and light that only Vermeer could give.
The gaze that changed the history of art
What has always made this painting unique is the gaze: sweet but decisive, curious but distant. For Graham-Dixon, those eyes represent the moment of revelation, when Mary Magdalene discovers that Christ’s tomb is empty. A symbolic scene, told not with words or gestures, but with an expression.
The “girl with the pearl earring” thus becomes the face of a sacred moment, suspended between human doubt and the light of faith. And if it really was the young Magdalena, then Vermeer would have immortalized not just a person, but a universal feeling: the discovery of wonder.
A mystery that lives on
The Graham-Dixon theory has sparked heated debate in the art world. There are those who consider it the most convincing explanation ever, and those who continue to see the painting as an ideal portrait, a symbolic creation, not linked to anyone in particular.
In any case, its discovery brings to the center the true strength of the painting: its ability to speak to everyone, centuries after its birth. Because, after all, that girl with the blue turban and the earring that captures the light is also a bit of us – suspended between mystery, curiosity and beauty that needs no explanation.
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