Pieter van Ruijven had belonged to the Van Ruijvens, who had built up a large collection of paintings by Vermeer, three by Emanuel de Witte, four by Simon de Vlieger and one by Jan Porcellis. He is depicted as a predatory lecher in Tracy Chevalier's historical novel "Girl with a Pearl Earring" (1999), although there is absolutely no evidence of this. The 2003 film of the book also follows this characterization. Pieter van Ruijven Pieter Claesz. van Ruijven (Delft, 1624 – Delft, August 7, 1674) is best known as Johannes Vermeer's patron for the better part of the artist's career. Van Ruijven was
Johannes Vermeer Van Meegeren who stages highly exact scenes from Vermeer paintings in order to paint copies of them. John Jost's film "All the Vermeers in New York" (1990) makes reference to a woman's resemblance to a Vermeer painting. Dutch composer Louis Andriessen based his opera "Writing to Vermeer" (1997–98, libretto by Peter Greenaway) on the domestic life of Vermeer. Brian Howell's novel "The Dance of Geometry" (Toby Press, 2004) narrates four interlinking episodes that centre around the creation of Vermeer's "The Music Lesson", dealing with his childhood and courtship of his wife-to-be, a visit by a French traveller who becomes involved