Woman with a Pearl Necklace would cover is very similar to that in his painting "Woman with a Water Jug". On that same side of the wall, Vermeer displays a framed mirror. The black frame is most likely made of ebony, which indicates wealth and status. The fact that Vermeer uses a mirror is also distinctive. Vermeer associated the sense of reflection to portray the woman with vanity or feminine power. Also due to Vermeer’s interest in certain Greek muses, he used the mirror to portray duality. However, according to the Essential Vermeer Website, other historians believe this mirror may indicate a Dutch theme of
The Woman with the Spider's Web outcome and when asked by his brother to produce further works for transfer, he declined, writing, "ask another artist". Original cuts of "Woman with the Spider's Web" are in the British Museum, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, amongst other locations. The image shows a female figure sitting by a dead tree as she solemnly looks into the distance, away from the viewer. Her elbow rests on a broken tree branch, while, according to art historian Albert Boime, "all around her weeds have sprung up (including the sickening thistles, traditional symbols of melancholy)". Many of the overgrown