①Researchers have used high technology to learn about a famous painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The painting is called Girl with a Pearl Earring. Vermeer was considered as one of the greatest art masters during the Dutch golden age of painting in the 1600s.
②The researchers' tests have found out important information about how Vermeer did the painting. He began making the work with brown and black paints on a piece of cloth. Then he drew the girl's outline(轮廓) in black before working from the green background to the foreground.
③A careful examination even showed where some of the paints came from. The white came from the Peak District in England. The blue was made from a valuable stone found in Afghanistan. The red was made from insects living in Mexico and South America.
④Abbie Vandivere was the leader of the research project. She expressed surprise that Vermeer used so much blue in the painting, saying, " The blue paint was more valuable than gold in the seventeenth century. " Vermeer, however, did not travel around the world to get the paints. He most probably bought them in his home town of Delft.
⑤The research findings not only show information about Vermeer's paints, but also tell us about Dutch and world trade in the seventeenth century, Sadly the researchers failed to find out whether the girl ever existed(存在).
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