Griet is a shy, quiet young lady who has many honest thoughts and deep feelings. A girl of short words and a strong work ethic. Greit becomes the maid for a wealthier family, wealthier than hers, yet poor in love, opposite of her family. From a young age, Griet had always been around art. She accepts and has deep thoughts of all the beautiful art and architecture around her. From the brick ground to the mosaic-like building structures in her small area of the place she calls home. With her father becoming blind, Griet seems to appreciate art much more than she did before. After working for Vermeer, Griet falls in love with the details of this ancestral house and the art within. She spends most of her time gazing at the art when she isn’t doing her maidly duties. While Griet appreciates these descriptive artworks of the house and also relates them to herself and wishes to be a girl in one of those paintings (Chevalier 33). However, while Griet admires most of the paintings, she is deeply appalled and tense around others. She describes her sleeping abis as a crucifixion room making it hard for her to rest after her long days of work.
While Griet is just a maid she is also an artist herself. In her own way, Griets work is like an art process. From the very beginning of the story when Griet color coordinated the vegetables for the soup, so the colors wouldn’t clash, she pays attention to detail and treats everything as her own masterpiece, regardless of what she is tending to. She takes her time to insure all the belongings remain perfect and in the exact spot they once were while ensuring everything around is spotless. Griet placed her thumb along the edge of a piece of paper, her second finger along another, and anchored her hand with her smallest finger hooked on the edge of the table, in order to dust there and replace the letter where her hand indicated (Chevalier 31). Her laundry process goes into multiple days, guaranteeing the perfect cleanliness of the linens (Chevalier 37). Within the first week of working so hard she had callused hands, rough like sandpaper. She may appreciate the art being done and seen around her but in reality she is an artist herself.