Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665 She's caught mid-turn, like she's about to say something. 360 sixty years later, nobody knows what. Here's the twist: it's not even a portrait. No name attached, no sitter on record. Vermeer painted what the Dutch called a tronie — an imagined face, not a real person's likeness. Look closer at the earring that gives the painting its title: Conservators found it has no hook, no strap, no way to actually hang from an ear. It isn't jewelry. It's two brushstrokes of white doing the work of an entire pearl. It nearly vanished completely. After Vermeer died bankrupt in 1675, the painting disappeared for two hundred years. In 1881, a collector picked it up at auction for about two guilders — pocket change even then. The 1999 novel gave her a name and a backstory. The 2003 film gave her Scarlett Johansson's face. Neither one is history — they're guesses. The real mystery is still to be solved.