Culture

The Austrian painter is best known for his sensual paintings and sketches of the female form, often adorned with gold leaf and inspired by the inlays and detail of jewellery. His three beautiful friezes for the Palais Stoclet, the private mansion of a Belgian industrialist, incorporated enamel, coral, semi-precious stones and even pearls. In recent years, works by Klimt have become highly sought after, and copied, with his portrait titled Adele Bloch-Bauer I setting a new record at auction in 2006 for a reported $135m.

The image above has a fascinating history. One of Klimt's keenest supporters in Vienna was a young lady called Friederike Maria Beer. She was offered a necklace of natural pearls as a gift from her suitor Hans Böhler, but declined asking him to commission a portrait by Klimt instead. Klimt initially refused, but eventually agreed to Beer's commission. Beer came to the portrait sittings over several months in a red silk coat designed by the Wiener Werkstätte (Viennese Workshops), a co-operative design society co-founded by the owner of the Palais Stoclet. Klimt asked Beer to wear the jacket inside out and, in keeping with the many Asian influences in his work, painted a Korean battle scene in the background.

The portrait of Friederike Maria Beer is currently on display at the Tel Aviv Musuem of Art, having been donated to the museum by the Mizne-Blumental Collection. This joint estate of over 60 masterpieces, including works by Kandinsky, Picasso, and Dali amongst others was the early 20th century art collection of a Ukranian musician and Polish painter who began avidly collecting art after the end of the second world war . At the time of loan to the Museum, the Klimt painting was valued at over $100 million...in hindsight a very astute decision by the young Miss Beer!

The Belvedere Museum in Vienna celebrates '150 years of Gustav Klimt' from 12th July 2012 to 6th January 2013.

2011 is the 50th anniversary of the first successful experiment to grow cultured pearls in French Polynesia.

Jean-Marie Domard, a Frenchman who had studied pearl grafting at the farm of Mikimoto, located the first Tahitian pearl farm at Hikueru, an atoll in the Tuamotu archipelago situated approximately 750km from the capital of French Polynesia. Hikueru, which was visited by the famed Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, was a perfect breeding ground for the black lipped oyster.

Despite their name Tahitian pearls are confusingly known as 'black pearls' as a result of taking on the colour of the black lipped Pinctada margaritifera cumingii oyster. These pearls are formed though in many exotic colours such as silver, grey, pistachio, peacock and aubergine.

Initially the industry believed these incredible colours to be the result of a post-culturing treatment.

Following confirmation by the laboratory of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) that the colour was indeed natural, the first production of cultured pearls from French Polynesia began to be marketed successfully in the US and Europe during the 1970s.

Amongst the most beautiful pearls in the world, Tahitian pearls are farmed today in warm saltwater lagoons, mainly throughout French Polynesia. No pearls are actually cultured in Tahiti itself, with the main farms being as far as 1500km away on remote atolls and islands. Their locations are chosen for their reefs that provide protection from tides, access to free flowing warm water and environmental purity.

Combined with classic round and baroque shapes, these colourful pearls have become highly fashionable and sought after. Whether made as a choker necklace, a unique multi-coloured pearl necklace or with the simplicity of a Tahitian pearl pendant or Tahitian pearl earrings, these pearls perfectly match the exotic surroundings of their source.

The pearl really is one of nature’s true wonders. The reflections of light from thin translucent layers beneath a pearl’s surface create a series of unique shimmering colours that are found in no other gemstone.

The mesmerizing surface of pearls has inspired many artists to capture this gemstone in paintings and one of the most famous such paintings is the Girl With A Pearl Earring by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer.

After the journey to the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492, natural pearls became the largest export from the New World to Europe for almost fifty years until the later development of gold mines in Peru and Mexico. With more of these wondrous gemstones reaching Europe, there was a “pearl rush” amongst the rich and royal European families eager to show their wealth and status.

One of the main trading centres in Europe for pearls was Holland. Artist Vermeer (1632-1675) was the son of a prosperous Dutch merchant in Delft and would have observed for himself how pearls were being worn, envied and sought after.

Vermeer’s paintings depict an emerging class of wealthy merchant families. There are thirty five paintings attributed to Vermeer today, but perhaps the most famous is the Girl With A Pearl Earring. Vermeer painted his masterpiece in 1665-66. Sometimes called the “Mona Lisa of the North”, the painting hangs today in the Mauritshuis Gallery in The Hague.

The composition of the painting is balanced, almost peaceful. On a dark, near black background, a girl is depicted wearing simple clothing of natural colours and a blue headscarf. The large pearl drop earring is an essential element of the painting, laying towards the centre of the frame.

The girl in the painting has a questioning expression, looking over her shoulder. Some historians have suggested that the girl may have been one of his daughters and others have proposed that she was a maid helping Vermeer with his work.

The light gently enters the painting from the left side as if early sunshine is glancing through a window, and is being reflected on the girl’s face and by the shimmering lustre of the pearl.

Like the radiance of a natural pearl, the Girl With A Pearl Earring carries an era of mystery and beauty.

Who is this young girl and what is she asking or telling us?