Q 01/05

Which actress played the maid Griet in the 2003 film Girl with a Pearl Earring?

A) Natalie Portman

B) Scarlett Johansson

C) Keira Knightley

D) Kate Hudson

Answer · why

B) Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson played Griet opposite Colin Firth's Vermeer; Kate Hudson had been cast first but left the project before filming began.

Q 02/05

Which Hague museum holds Girl with a Pearl Earring?

A) Kunstmuseum Den Haag

B) Mauritshuis

C) Museum Bredius

D) Panorama Mesdag

Answer · why

B) Mauritshuis

Mauritshuis: a 2018 study there with microscopes and X-ray scans found that Vermeer had given the girl fine eyelashes.

Q 03/05

Roughly how many surviving paintings do scholars firmly attribute to Vermeer?

A) About 10

B) About 35

C) About 110

D) About 350

Answer · why

B) About 35

About 35: scholars accept 34 without dispute and argue over a few more. One local patron is thought to have bought so much of his work that his fame b...

Q 04/05

What kind of light source lights most of Vermeer's interior scenes?

A) A window on the left

B) A candle on the table

C) An open doorway

D) A skylight above

Answer · why

A) A window on the left

A window on the left lights nearly all of them; in The Guitar Player he broke the habit and let the light enter from the right.

Q 05/05

What object did Vermeer paint out of The Milkmaid, later revealed by X-ray?

A) A fire basket

B) A wall clock

C) A sleeping cat

D) A second window

Answer · why

A) A fire basket

A fire basket, a wicker frame set over hot coals for drying clothes, stood where the foot warmer is now; he also painted out a rack of jugs on the wal...