Vector illustration and 2D animation project dedicated to one of the most iconic beauties in art history – The girl with a pearl earring, a notorious masterpiece painted by Johannes Vermeer around 1665.

The painting is a tronie, the Dutch 17th-century description of a ‘head’ that was not meant to be a portrait. It depicts a Dutch girl wearing an exotic dress, an oriental turban, and an improbably large pearl earring. But let’s be honest, that pearl earring made her notorious. The original masterpiece is kept in Mauritshuis collection, The Hague, Netherlands.

My aim was to redraw the character in a personal manner, mixing modern and vintage aesthetics: flat colour, block shading, an elegant inking, grain textures, realistic and stylized shapes. I chose to depict the main character in a picturesque Dutch landscape, so familiar to Vermeer: a view towards the traditional windmills from Zaanse Schans, Holland.

Vector illustration created in Adobe Illustrator, on Wacom Cintiq and animated in Adobe After Effects.