English: The painting is an example of a tronie, a common genre of the time depicting stock characters rather than any given individual. The provenance of this painting before 1881 is uncertain, although in 1696 twenty-one paintings by Vermeer were sold from the estate of the Delft printer Jacob Dissius, comprising more than half of Vermeer's known ouevre today. The catalogue described three tronies including "A tronie in Antique Dress, exceptionally artful".^[2] This could well be Girl with a Pearl Earring.^[3]:44 The painting was sold at the Hague in 1881 to Arnoldus des Tombe for the staggeringly cheap price of two guilders (roughly a day-labourer's wage at the time) plus the buyer's premium of thirty cents. Tombe was bidding on the advice of the noted Dutch art historian and conservationist Victor de Stuers. At Tombe's death in 1902, it transpired that he had secretly bequeathed twelve of his painting to the Maurtishuis, including Girl with a Pearl Earring. The painting was restored in 1960, and again in 1994-1995 when a special gallery was constructed to allow visitors to see the restoration in progress. During the latter restoration, research established that the background had been painted in a glossy translucent green over a black underpaint. The pigment of the green has faded, resulting in the almost uniform dark background we see today.^[3]:49 The blue turban itself is painted in natural ultramarine, a fabulously expensive pigment made from crushed lapis lazuli.