The image above, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, is my favorite among his paintings. In my art class in 1996, when Vermeer’s works were shown at the National Art Gallery in Washington, DC, my art teacher asked us to copy it. Armed with just a small magazine print of the painting, I started working on a 16″ x 20″ canvas. Below is what came out:
You will see the difference outright but it was not a bad attempt considering that I had only been painting for two years then.