Mauritshuis

Johannes Vermeer's "Girl With The Pearl Earring" is one of the world's most popular paintings and now scientists believe they know why, by measuring how the brain reacts when the work is viewed.

The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, which houses the 17th century masterpiece, commissioned neuroscientists to measure brain output when viewing the portrait and other well-known works.

At first glance it seems to be just a modern take on Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece "Girl with a Pearl Earring." But look more closely and things get a little strange.

Firstly, there are two glowing earrings in the image hanging in the Mauritshuis museum in the Dutch city of The Hague. And aren't those freckles on her face actually... a slightly inhuman shade of red?

Climate activists glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" at a Dutch museum on Oct. 27 in the latest stunt targeting famous artworks, but the painting was undamaged.

Three men were arrested after the attack at The Hague's Mauritshuis museum on the 1665 masterpiece which has inspired a bestselling novel and a Hollywood film.