Girl With A Pearl Earring (Book & DVD Double Pack)

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In order to support her family, seventeen-year-old Griet (Scarlett Johansson) becomes a maid in the house of Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) and soon attracts the master painter’s attention. Although worlds apart in upbringing and social standing, Vermeer recognises her intuitive understanding of his work and slowly draws her into his mysterious world of art and passion.

Whilst she falls increasingly under Vermeer’s spell, his volatile family quickly grow jealous of her. Maria, his shrewd mother-in-law, struggles to maintain the family’s lavish lifestyle, and seeing that Griet inspires Vermeer, takes the decision to let their relationship develop. Van Ruijven, also sensing the intimacy between master and maid, commissions Vermeer to paint Griet’s portrait. The result will be one of the greatest paintings ever created... but at what cost?


READ THE BOOK BY TRACY CHEVALIER...

In seventeenth-century Delft, a prosperous town in Holland, life was orderly. Rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, master and servant, all know their place.

So when Griet becomes a maid in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, she thinks she knows her role: housework, laundry and the care of his six children. She even feels able to handle his shrewd mother-in-law, his restless, sensual wife and their jealous servant.

What no-one expects is that Griet’s quiet manner, quick perceptions and fascination with her master‚s paintings will draw her inexorably into his world. As she becomes part of his work their growing intimacy spreads tension and deception in the ordered household and even - as the scandal seeps out - ripples in the town beyond.

Tracy Chevalier, author of the award-winning ‘The Virgin Blue’, was inspired by the girl from one of Vermeer’s most loved and mysterious paintings. She has created an extraordinary and moving novel on the corruption of innocence and the price of genius.

“...a wonderful novel, mysterious, steeped in atmosphere... deeply revealing about the process of painting... a truly magical experience” - The Guardian