a girl with pearl earrings

An interpretation of Griets ability to see and its use for Vermeer and the story:

In the following lines, I will focus on Griets ability to see and show, how her conciousness is highly influenced by her visual experiences. It will be subject of this paper to prove that an imagery of the eye and further visualisations is used throughtout the whole book to express Griets personality. In the end it will be clear to what extent her visual ability was so special and why she became so precious and important to Vermeer and his paintings.

When Griet is at her family house chopping vegetables and placing them in strick order on the plate, the reader is for the first time confronted with young Griets unique talent of ‘colourization’. Griet had put the vegetables slices in coloural order in a circle on the plate, the colours fitting. (“I always laid vegetables out in a circle, each with its own section like a slice of pie. There were five slices: red cabbage, onions, leeks, carrots and turnips.” page 5) Vermeer, the towns most famoust painter, came to take a look at his further house maid when he sees the slices put in order. The first conversation they have is

Some topics in this essay:
Tracy Chevalier’s, Vermeer Griet, Griet Catharina, Chevalier Griet, vermeer griet, griets ability, unique talent, page 107, job vermeers, light brown, camera obscura, visual awareness,