Jan Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” painted with masterly command of color, extraordinary realism and glittering, pearly highlights, is an enigmatic masterpiece which holds similar mysteries as the man who painted her. Very little is known about Vermeer (1632 – 1675), a Dutch artist specializing in lyrical, domestic interior scenes so expressively painted that they transcended the mundane. Although he only produced 35 paintings in his lifetime, Vermeer is considered to be one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age.