The subject of Johannes Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' (c. 1665) remains one of art history's greatest enigmas. Unlike a traditional portrait, this painting is a 'tronie'—a Dutch term for a character study that depicts an idealized or exotic figure rather than a specific identifiable person. The girl wears a turban and an impossibly large pearl, which many experts believe is actually polished tin or glass due to its extreme reflectivity. Vermeer's use of natural ultramarine, an expensive pigment made from lapis lazuli, for the girl's headscarf demonstrates his commitment to high-quality materials. The painting's fame skyrocketed in the late 20th century, largely due to a bestselling novel and film that imagined a fictional story for the sitter, but in reality, she likely existed only in the artist's imagination as a study of light and beauty.