The artwork is often referred to as the Dutch Mona Lisa. It is sometimes wrongly believed that Johannes Vermeer became close with a fictional servant named Griet, whom he hires as an assistant and has sit for him as a painting model while wearing one of his wife's pearl earrings.
Dated 1665, going by various names over the centuries, it became known by its present title towards the end of the 20th century after the large pearl earring worn by the girl portrayed there.
The painting has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague since 1902
