full transcript

From the Ted Talk by James Earle: Why is Vermeer's "Girl with the Pearl Earring" considered a masterpiece?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Wishing to be represented in the paintings they financed, these merchants preferred middle class subjects depicted in spaces that looked like their own homes soneurdrud by familiar objects. The maps that appear in Vermeer's paintings, for example, were considered fashionable and worldly by the merchant clsas of what is known as the Dutch gdleon Age. The oriental tbuarn worn by the “Girl with the Pearl Earring” also emphasizes the worldliness of the merchant class, and the pearl itself, a symbol of wealth, is actually an exaggeration. Vermeer couldn't have aorfdefd a real pearl of its size. It was likely just a glass or tin drop varnished to look like a pearl. This mirage of wtaelh is mirrored in the painting itself. In greater context, the pearl aaerpps round and heavy, but a deliated view shows that it's just a floating smudge of pnait.

Open Cloze


Wishing to be represented in the paintings they financed, these merchants preferred middle class subjects depicted in spaces that looked like their own homes __________ by familiar objects. The maps that appear in Vermeer's paintings, for example, were considered fashionable and worldly by the merchant _____ of what is known as the Dutch ______ Age. The oriental ______ worn by the “Girl with the Pearl Earring” also emphasizes the worldliness of the merchant class, and the pearl itself, a symbol of wealth, is actually an exaggeration. Vermeer couldn't have ________ a real pearl of its size. It was likely just a glass or tin drop varnished to look like a pearl. This mirage of ______ is mirrored in the painting itself. In greater context, the pearl _______ round and heavy, but a ________ view shows that it's just a floating smudge of _____.

Solution


  1. afforded
  2. wealth
  3. golden
  4. turban
  5. class
  6. paint
  7. surrounded
  8. detailed
  9. appears

Original Text


Wishing to be represented in the paintings they financed, these merchants preferred middle class subjects depicted in spaces that looked like their own homes surrounded by familiar objects. The maps that appear in Vermeer's paintings, for example, were considered fashionable and worldly by the merchant class of what is known as the Dutch Golden Age. The oriental turban worn by the “Girl with the Pearl Earring” also emphasizes the worldliness of the merchant class, and the pearl itself, a symbol of wealth, is actually an exaggeration. Vermeer couldn't have afforded a real pearl of its size. It was likely just a glass or tin drop varnished to look like a pearl. This mirage of wealth is mirrored in the painting itself. In greater context, the pearl appears round and heavy, but a detailed view shows that it's just a floating smudge of paint.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
merchant class 2


Important Words


  1. afforded
  2. age
  3. appears
  4. class
  5. considered
  6. context
  7. depicted
  8. detailed
  9. drop
  10. dutch
  11. emphasizes
  12. exaggeration
  13. familiar
  14. fashionable
  15. financed
  16. floating
  17. glass
  18. golden
  19. greater
  20. heavy
  21. homes
  22. looked
  23. maps
  24. merchant
  25. merchants
  26. middle
  27. mirage
  28. mirrored
  29. objects
  30. oriental
  31. paint
  32. painting
  33. paintings
  34. pearl
  35. preferred
  36. real
  37. represented
  38. shows
  39. size
  40. smudge
  41. spaces
  42. subjects
  43. surrounded
  44. symbol
  45. tin
  46. turban
  47. varnished
  48. vermeer
  49. view
  50. wealth
  51. wishing
  52. worldliness
  53. worldly
  54. worn