Guest edited by Abbie Vandivere
In 2018, Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665, Mauritshuis) underwent a technical examination within the research project "The Girl in the Spotlight". The painting was examined in front of the museum public with state-of-the-art non-invasive imaging techniques. Samples taken during the 1990s were re-analysed.
The goal was to document the current condition of the painting, and to find out more about the materials, techniques that Vermeer used to create this masterpiece. This special collection of articles in Heritage Science is devoted to the results of the technical examination.
The research project "The Girl in the Spotlight" is a Mauritshuis initiative and involves a team of internationally recognised specialists associated with the Netherlands Institute for Conservation+Art+Science+ (NICAS)+, and scientists from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, andthe National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA.
Cover image: Sylvain Fleur + the Girl and the Spotlight team. Logos on cover courtesy of and copyright to the individual organizations.