It’s hard to know which ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’ is more famous today; Vermeer’s masterpiece from around 1665, or Tracey Chevalier’s novel of 1999 which takes the painting – and the pearl earring – as the basis of her story. Whilst there is only one Vermeer painting, Chevalier’s novel has reportedly sold over two million copies and spawned a movie and a play.

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