So I know what kind of a special place it is, and I also know that it has a lot in common with the Mauritshuis. 所以我知道这里是个一个怎样的特别之地，我同样也知道它和Mauritshuis美术馆有许多共同之处。

The Mauritshuis is a museum that specializes, like no other, in Dutch paintings of the Golden Age, Mauritshuis美术馆是一间与众不同、专门展出黄金时代的荷兰画作，

so I think roughly 1450 to 1750. 我想大约在1450到1750年间。

The Girl with a Pearl Earring was done at the height of that period in the 1660s. 《戴珍珠耳环的少女》是在1660年代那时期的颠峰完成的。

All of the other paintings in the exhibition date from roughly the same period from the 17th century, 展品中的所有其他画作可以追溯回大约17世纪的相同时期，

and they all come from Holland. 它们全都来自荷兰。

We know very little about Johannes Vermeer, actually. 我们对于强纳森·维梅尔知道的非常少，真的。

We piece together quite a lot of information out of olds, inventories, and legal documents, 我们拼凑很多从旧时代、财产清单、法律文件得到的资讯，

but that, of course, gives only a partial impression of who he was. 但那，当然只给了他身分的部分印象。

During his life, we don't know where he studied, where he learned his craft from. 在他的人生中，我们不晓得他在哪里求学、他从哪学到他的技术。

We know that he lived in Delft. We know that he painted very few paintings. 我们知道他住在Delft。我们知道他画过非常少的画。

We think he probably had one patron, the man who bought all of his paintings. 我们认为他可能有位老主顾，那个买下他所有画作的男子。

We know he had a lot of kids. But we don't...really don't have any way of knowing who he was as a person. 我们知道他有很多孩子。但我们不...真的没有任何方式了解身为一个人他会是谁。

The girl is very timeless and very iconic. 这女孩是非常永恒、且非常经典的。

And because of that, I think people find her extremely recognizable. 因此，我认为人们会发现她非常容易认出。

It's been helped, of course, by Tracy Chevalier's novel, using the girl as a subject, as well as Peter Webber's film. 它受到，当然，崔西·雪佛兰写的小说的帮助，利用那女孩作为主题，还有彼得·韦伯的电影。

And we're actually using a lot of social media to promote her. We have been using various platforms—Facebook, Instagram. 我们实际上运用许多社交媒体宣传她。我们一直使用各种平台－－Facebook、Instagram。

And we find that she is extremely accessible to a 21st century audience. 我们发现她对二十一世纪的观众来说是非常平易近人的。

We have no way of knowing who the model was, if there was a model. 我们没有办法知道那模特儿是谁，如果有个模特儿的话。

She is not a portrait. She is actually a tronie, so she is an idealized figure. 她不是肖像画，她其实是幅脸部特写画像，所以她是个理想化的人物。

And she is not meant to be linked to this specific personality, although many art historians have tried to give her one. 她并非意图要与这个特定的性格有所连结，虽然许多艺术史学家都试着要给她一种性格。

She's been suggested to be Vermeer's eldest daughter, who would have been actually a little bit too young at that time to really look like her. 有人提出她是维梅尔的大女儿，但她可能在当时确实有点太年轻而真的看起来不像她。

But I think that's part of her timeless appeal people want to connect with her in some way. 但我认为那是她的那种永恒吸引力其中一部分，那是人们想要以某种方式和她有所连结的。

And giving her a name, I think, makes them feel she is a little bit more real. 我认为，给她一个名字让他们觉得她好像有点更加真实。

But she's not meant to be real. When we look at her, we wonder, 但她并非打算要成为真实的。当我们看着她，我们想知道：

"Who is she? Who is she turning around the face? How does she come across that enormous pearl that is dangling from her ear?" “她是谁？她对谁转过脸？她怎么发现那挂在她耳朵上的巨大珍珠？”

And we don't know, and these are things we can't possibly know. 我们都不晓得，而这些是我们不可能会知道的事情。

And I think this is something you see in so many works by Vermeer. Another thing with the girl is the gaze. 我认为这是你在维梅尔许多作品中会看到的东西。有关这女孩另一件事是那凝视。

When you look at that gaze, she entrances us, and she's both a coed and a seductress, 当你看着那凝视，她让我们出神，而她既是一位女大学生也是一位勾引男性的女人，

and she's also a wide-eyed innocent. 她同样也是睁大眼睛的无辜女孩。

So we really don't know how to interpret her and it keeps us looking. 所以我们确实不知道要怎么解读她，它持续让我们看着。