Art Imitating Art: 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'
A New Film Is Born of a Novel Inspired by Vermeer's Painting
Listen: <b>Web Extra</b>: Tracy Chevalier discusses writing books based on works of art.
Detail from cover of Tracy Chevalier's book 'Girl With a Pearl Earring'
It's art imitating art imitating art.
The new film Girl with a Pearl Earring is based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier -- a fictional account of the life of a young woman pictured in the famous Vermeer painting.
Chevalier, whose most recent book The Lady and the Unicorn is also based on a work of art (The Unicorn Tapestries), says she wrote Girl with a Pearl Earring after years of staring at a poster of the painting in her bedroom.
Now that the Chevalier book that was the Vermeer painting has become director Peter Webber's film -- starring Scarlett Johanssen in the title role -- NPR's Lynn Neary reports on what has been lost -- and added -- in the translation.
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'Girl with a Pearl Earring' Brings Vermeer to Life Dec. 12, 2003
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