“Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer, 17th-century Dutch painter. I first saw it when I was 19, and I immediately went out and got a poster of it, and in fact I still have that poster 30 years later its hanging in my house. Its accompanied me everywhere Ive gone, I never tire of looking at her.

One day, 16 years after I had this poster on my wall, I lay in bed and looked at her, and I suddenly thought, I wonder what the painter did to her to make her look like that. And it was the first time Id ever thought that the expression on her face is actually reflecting how she feels about him. Always before Id thought of it as a portrait of a girl. Now I began to think of it as a portrait of a relationship. And I thought, well, what is that relationship?

So heres how I came up with the story. First of all, I thought, Ive got to get her into the house. How does Vermeer know her? Well, thereve been suggestions that she is his 12-yearold daughter. The daughter at the time was 12 when he painted the painting. And I thought, no, its a very intimate look, but its not a look a daughter gives her father. For one thing, in Dutch painting of the time, if a womans mouth was open, it was indicating sexual availability. It would have been inappropriate for Vermeer to paint his daughter like that.

《戴珍珠耳环的少女》是17世纪荷兰画家约翰尼斯·维米尔的作品。我19岁时，第一次看到这幅画后，我立刻出去买了一张这幅画的复制画，事实上，我现在仍然保留着那幅画。30年后，这幅画仍然在我家挂着。我去哪儿都带着它，丝毫不厌倦地欣赏着它。

在这幅画已经在我家墙上挂了16年后的一天，我躺在床上看着她，突然好奇画家是如何使得她做出这样一副神情。我第一次觉得她脸上的神情其实表现出的是她对画家的感情。一直以来我都认为它只是一幅少女肖像画。现在我开始觉得它是一段感情的“肖像”。然后我开始陷入思考：嗯，那是一段怎样的感情呢？

而以下就是我想象出来的故事。首先，我认为必须先把她带进画家的家。维米尔是如何认识她的呢？有人认为她是维米尔12岁的女儿。他的女儿在他画这幅画时，正是12岁。而我认为不然，这是十分亲密的神情，但绝不是一个女儿看待父亲的神情。原因很简单，那个时期的荷兰绘画风格中，如果一个女人的嘴是张开的，则属于性暗示。所以如果说维米尔所画的是他女儿，这根本不合适。

So its not his daughter, but its somebody close to him, physically close to him. Well, who else would be in the house? A servant, a lovely servant. So, shes in the house. How do we get her into the studio? We dont know very much about Vermeer, but the little bits that we do know, one thing we know is that he married a Catholic woman, they lived with her mother in a house where he had his own room where he—his studio. He also had 11 children. It would have been a chaotic, noisy household. And if youve seen Vermeers paintings before, you know that theyre incredibly calm and quiet.

How does a painter paint such calm, quiet paintings with 11 kids around? Well, he compartmentalizes his life. He gets to his studio, and he says, “Nobody comes in here. Not the wife, not the kids. OK, the maid can come in and clean.” Shes in the studio. Hes got her in the studio, theyre together. And he decides to paint her.

He has her wear very plain clothes. Now, all of the women, or most of the women in Vermeers other paintings wore velvet, silk, fur, very 1)sumptuous materials. This is very plain; the only thing that isnt plain is her pearl earring. Now, if shes a servant, there is no way she could afford a pair of pearl earrings. So those are not her pearl earrings. Whose are they? We happen to know, theres a list of Catharina, the wifes clothes. Amongst them a yellow coat with white fur, a yellow and black 2)bodice, and you see these clothes on lots of other paintings, different women in the paintings, in Vermeers paintings. So clearly, her clothes were lent to various different women. Its not such a leap of faith to take that that pearl earring actually belongs to his wife.

So weve got all the elements for our story. Shes in the studio with him for a long time. Shes wearing his wifes pearl earring. Shes gorgeous. She obviously loves him. Shes conflicted. And does the wife know? Maybe not. And if she doesnt, well—thats the story.

所以，那不是他的女儿，而是他身边的人，能够接近他的人。那他家里还有其他什么人呢？佣人，一位漂亮的佣人。这样，她就在维米尔家里。那她又是如何进入画室里的呢？我们并不是很了解维米尔，但有一点我们能够确定的是，他的妻子是天主教徒，他们和她的母亲住在一起，维米尔拥有自己的房间——就是他的画室。他还有11个孩子，所以那应该是混乱、嘈杂的一大家子。倘若你看过维米尔的画作，你就会知道它们都表现出难以置信的沉着和宁静。

维米尔家里有11个孩子，他是如何画出这些沉着、宁静的作品呢？是的，他把作画和生活的界限划分得十分清楚。他走进画室时会说，“任何人不许进来。不许妻子进来，也不许孩子进来。好吧，佣人可以进来打扫。”她就这样进入了画室。他允许她进入画室，他们在一起了。他决定为她作画。

他为她画上了相当朴素的衣裳。但是，几乎所有维米尔所画的女人，或者说大部分的女人穿的都是天鹅绒、丝绸或者皮草的衣服，这些都是非常华丽的材质。而这个少女穿着相当朴素；唯一不朴素的是她的珍珠耳环。如果她是佣人，她绝不可能买得起一对珍珠耳环。所以那珍珠耳环不是她的。那是谁的呢？我们恰好有他的妻子凯瑟琳的衣服清单。其中有一件镶有白色毛皮的黄色外套，一件黄黑相间的上衣，在维米尔许多的画作里都可以看到这些衣服，他的画作里不同的女人都穿着这些衣服。因此很明显，他妻子的衣服曾借给许多女人。所以如果说那对珍珠耳环为他妻子所有，并不是毫无根据的。

讲到这里，我们已经有了故事的所有要素。少女和维米尔在画室共处了很长时间。她戴着维米尔妻子的珍珠耳环。她漂亮极了，很明显，她爱着维米尔。同时，她也很矛盾。维米尔的妻子知情吗？或许不。倘若她并不知情，好吧——故事到此为止了。翻译：Cass