Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Original - Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, 1665.

Alternate. This is the file I located the other day. Less yellow, and if my eyes don't deceive me a slightly different aspect ratio.

Reason

Our featured pictures are short on paintings by the old masters, partly because many museums make it difficult to obtain high quality digital files and assert spurious copyright claims. After considerable research I located a cache at a Dutch website and chose one of the most famous images, then discovered that an even better quality version was already featured on the Spanish and Turkish Wikipedias.

Articles this image appears in

Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Girl with a Pearl Earring (film)

Creator

Johannes Vermeer

• Support as nominator --Durova^Charge! 10:49, 19 July 2008 (UTC)
• Comment anyone know if the blue headscarf accurately reflects the painting's real color? Because in the other version it looks more turquoise. The painting itself looks to be in pretty bad shape, sad to say. Fletcher (talk) 15:20, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

  The two versions are very different. Obviously it has faded with age and its always good to have clarification on whether the digital copy is representing the painting as it is now or whether an attempt has been made to correct the colors or contrast towards what the image originally looked like. I think the nominated version is the correct one color wise, looking at other online resources like these [1][2] and that the yellower versions [3] have just been shot under tungsten light and not corrected. Mfield (talk) 17:14, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

  I believe I saw this during the Vermeer exhibit at the Smithsonian about 15 years ago. Your linked version is _much_ yellower than the actual painting. de Bivort 17:17, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

  This version is very close to the balance of the version I have. The painting has been through restorations and "correct" versions probably have a different balance depending on when the photograph was taken. Durova^Charge! 17:25, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

  The current version on the right is the accurate version concerning color (and everything else by the way). The painting you linked to us is to yellowish. Massimo Catarinella (talk)

  Comment: Mentioning the difference in blues is somewhat major in my view. I read a book about Vermeer, and it said that his paintings had a certain blue colour. See Image:Johannes Vermeer - Zittende Klavecimbelspeelster (1673-1675).jpg, Image:Clio.jpg, Image:Jan Vermeer van Delft 012.jpg, and Image:Vermeer - The Milkmaid.jpg. Now obviously in the images given and in the one above, the blue differs a bit, but the original base paint was the same (The paint came from Lapis lazuli, I believe). I would hope that colour will remain in the same tint, but I can't tell. Spencer^T♦C 18:31, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

  Would you like me to upload the other version I've found for comparison? It's from a Dutch government archive and was provided by the museum itself. Slightly smaller, slightly different hues. Durova^Charge! 18:41, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

  If it helps, the colour in question, made from LApis lazuli, is Ultramarine. I have some paints in that colour (though almost surely *not* Lapis lazuli) and the blue looks right to me. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 21:53, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

• Support - iconic. de Bivort 17:17, 19 July 2008 (UTC)
• Support either - although I can't quite make out exactly what the difference between the two is. Cacophony (talk) 01:44, 20 July 2008 (UTC)
• Support Either The second one is brighter. Rj1020 (talk) 07:58, 20 July 2008 (UTC)