Who painted "Girl with a Pearl Earring?"

"Girl with a Pearl Earring" is an oil painting by 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The painting has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902.

The painting is a tronie, the Dutch 17th-century description of a 'head' that was not meant to be a portrait. It depicts a European girl wearing an exotic dress, an oriental turban, and an improbably large pearl earring. In 2014, Dutch astrophysicist Vincent Icke raised doubts about the material of the earring and argued that it looks more like polished tin than pearl on the grounds of its reflection, the pear shape, and the large size of the earring.

The work is oil on canvas and is 44.5 cm (17.5 in) high and 39 cm (15 in) wide. It is signed "IVMeer" but not dated. It is estimated to have been painted around 1665.