the enigmatic girl with the pearl earring. the girl who is idealized and brightly lit phase is unknown. her exotic attire lends the picture an aura of tranquility. like leonardo davinci monalisa as the most famous painting in the world. while the girl's face is modeled with invisible brush strokes, her clothing are much more expressively painted. small subtle reflexes of life ven compass the compositions and her eyes and lower lips and her famous pearls. her ultra marine pigment, la paz lapis lazuli -- in a wet mixed with paint. broad thick brush work where her jacket is more rendered. a paint which applied over a dark background has darkened considerably with age. at the time the painting was stable but it's appearance was far from ideal. the tinted varnish yellowed with age and created an uneven effect. these products of previous restorations were removed without damageing the original paint and the thin layer of varnish was added. retouching was executed. today the masterly reflections of light are once again revealed. the

that's important to remember about the girl with the pearl earring. many have seen the film the girl with the pearl earning from a novel. it's a fiction. in that book and in the movie, the idea is a he was inspired by his maid to paint this picture and she's actually the model who possess for the girl with the pearl earrings. people would say, i'm here to see the portrait where do i find it. they said we don't have it. what are they talking about and they took this literally and this was the maid. not true. it's one of those romantic stories, but just make the mystery more interesting but not a specific portrait of a person. there is a question on the aisle here? the question about whether the girl with the pearl earring was commissioned and the answer is we don't know. it did come out of rembrandt studio and another layer to the mystery in the story is we didn't know where she was for about 200 years. she resurfaces at an auction where the historian realizes this was a pretty good picture and decided they wouldn't bid against each other. it sold for 2

girl with a pearl earring, from january 26-june 2nd the museum will be the first venue in the american tour of paintings from the royal picture gallery which is located in haik. how many have individual painting in the normal home? a good number of you. this unique museum is often called the jouleewelry box. it has the world's most prestigious paintings from the morris house which toured in 1982, it visited chicago, new york and los angeles. this has been several years in the making . there were approximately 48 paintings in tokyo and both of those about dutch an paintings. 30 paintings in this exhibition were in japan and 5 paintings that came to us specifically in san francisco. two of them fresh out of the conservation lab so they are being revealed in their full glory to our visitors in san francisco. an expansion in the mars house which is currently under way makes this opportunity possible. the girl with the pearl earring here in san francisco feet atures 35 paintings characteristic during the dutch golden age. after the exhibition closes in san francisco it will travel to the mu

the girl with the pearl earring here in san francisco feet atures 35 paintings characteristic during the dutch golden age. after the exhibition closes in san francisco it will travel to the museum in atlanta and it will go to a collection in new york. perhaps the most famous of the works that has traveled to the united states is a celebrated masterpiece girl with the pearl earring. it is this painting. we set our scene in holland during the dutch golden age this span of the 17th century where trade, industry and science were among the world. the one small port of amsterdam were one of the commercial centers in the entire world. this concentration of capital enriched bankers and merchants but also created the society in europe. the arch of the dutch golden age. 17th century travelers visiting holland remarked on the number of artist. typically western european artist on the monarch and the nobility as well as the very wealthie catholic church. an open market to a wide clientele that arranged from variety of merchants. it displays a modern domestic rather than extravagant or royal sett

and she served as the assistant curator for the blockbuster, girl with the pearl earrings, including impressionists on the water and matice from sf mona to be honored later this year. we invited melissa to speak because he told me that his cloud series was inspired by growing up looking at dramatic skies in dutch landscape painting. welcome. >> thank you to everyone who came out this evening to the main branch of the public library, i felt like it was encased in a cloud with all of the fog and the rain and everything and so i have literally taken on this assignment with a great personal interest and i am seeing clouds everywhere. and when they first called one morning, and introduced herself and told me a little bit about this panel and this project i thought great, i know about clouds i see them every day and i work at the legend of honor, exposed to the sea with the massive mountains and clouds and i thought a piece of cake and i will just talk about clouds. it became a much deeper project but i started this talk thinking about my own biographical relationship with clouds and i was