Pearl Necklace Vs Woman

Light and shade, rendered through oil paint, make possible the tactility of the material world which then results in the viewer to have “the impulse to read the images realistically [and thus arise their] desire to read them as moralizing texts warning [them] against lust, greed, and various other canonical sins”. In many biblical paintings, the amount of light exposure may be symbolic of the presence of a holy being in the room. In comparison to the Woman Holding a Balance, there is direct sunlight hitting the woman’s frontal portion of her body, almost reminiscent of an Annunciation scene. The light from the window line up at the same axis facing towards her, directing the viewer’s attention directly at the woman.

Similar to Woman holding

The Woman with a Pearl Necklace (Figure 4), dated between the years 1662 through 1665, depicts a young woman gazing at her reflection in the small mirror in front of her while holding onto a pearl necklace around her neck. She is clothed in an extravagant golden coat lined with patterned fur. She is situated at the corner of a sunlit room where a table and chair are placed in front of her. The window is draped with a golden curtain which complements the woman’s attire as well as the sunlight exposure in the room. A black cloth is located near the edge of the table along with a black vase. Although no reflection of the woman is seen by the viewer, it is assumed that she is in a self-contained state. Despite the distance and emptiness wall space between her and the mirror, the space becomes activated with her presence and her action of adorning

Similar to Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance, Woman with a Pearl Necklace depicts a conventional moral and religious judgment. Despite being compositionally similar, both paintings have contrasting meanings. The theme of morality and religious judgment is more explicitly shown in Woman Holding a Balance than that with Woman with a Pearl Necklace. Both of Vermeer’s paintings contain the same objects - the mirror, the window with the golden drape, and the pearl necklace - which aid in suggestion of theme. Both paintings carry a theme of one of the seven deadly sins. Woman with a Pearl Necklace gazes at herself in the mirror while either putting on or taking off a pearl necklace. She looks as if she is adorning herself by looking at her reflection in the mirror and urges herself to stand higher in order to look at her reflection, which further exemplifies the sin of pride. However, the absence of a painting-within-the-painting, like that of Woman Holding a Balance, adds ambiguity or less clarification on what the whole meaning of the action and painting is. It also lessens the possibility of viewing the painting as having religious connotations. Although both women are holding or are near objects which hold meanings of greed and materialism, the woman in Woman Holding a Balance does not look up at her reflection just as the one is Woman with a Pearl Necklace does -