Background
Who commissioned the painting of the Girl with a Pearl Earring?
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Girl with a Pearl Earring Girl with a Pearl Earring (novel) Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards 2003 Girl with a Pearl Earring London Film Critics Circle Awards 2003
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The painting Girl with a Pearl Earring () is one of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer's masterworks and, as the name implies, uses a pearl earring for a focal point. It has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague since 1902.  
Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 1999 historical novel written by Tracy Chevalier. Set in 17th century Delft, Holland, the novel was inspired by Delft school painter Johannes Vermeer's painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring". Chevalier presents a fictional account of Vermeer, the model, and the painting. The novel was adapted into a 2003 film of the same name and a 2008 play of the same name. 
 "Down with Love" "Girl with a Pearl Earring" "The Last Samurai"  
Tracy Chevalier wrote a historical novel, also entitled "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1999), fictionalizing the circumstances of the painting's creation. In the novel, Johannes Vermeer becomes close with a fictional servant named Griet (based on Chevalier's close friend Georgia Kendall), whom he hires as an assistant and has sit for him as a painting model while wearing his wife's pearl earrings. The novel inspired a 2003 film and 2008 play of the same name. The 2003 film stars Scarlett Johansson as the girl with the pearl earring, Griet. Johansson was nominated for various awards including a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. 
Julianne Moore - "Far from Heaven"  Holly Hunter - "Thirteen" Scarlett Johansson - "Girl with a Pearl Earring" Nicole Kidman - "Cold Mountain" Meryl Streep - "Adaptation."