Woman Reading a Letter

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Woman Reading a Letter: Johan Vermeer

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Art Type: Oil Painting
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Johan Vermeer Oil Painting - Woman Reading a Letter

Keywords: Woman, Reading, Letter

Work Overview: Woman Reading a Letter (Woman in Blue Reading a Letter)
Dutch: Brieflezende vrouw
Artist Johannes Vermeer
Year 1663–1664
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 46.6 cm × 39.1 cm (18.3 in × 15.4 in)
Location Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam

Woman Reading a Letter (Dutch: Brieflezende vrouw)[1][2] is a painting by the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Part of the collection of the City of Amsterdam as part of the Van der Hoop bequest, it has been in the Rijksmuseum since its inception, and was thus the first Vermeer they acquired.

The central element of the painting is a woman in blue standing in front of a window (not depicted) reading a letter.[4] The woman appears to be pregnant, although many have argued that the woman's rounded figure is simply a result of the fashions of the day.[5] Although the woman's loose clothing may be suggestive, pregnancy was very rarely depicted in art during this period.[6]

While the contents of the letter are not depicted, the composition of the painting is revealing. The map of the Netherlands on the wall behind the woman has been interpreted as suggesting that the letter she reads was written by a traveling husband.[7] Alternatively, the box of pearls barely visible on the table before the woman might suggest a lover as pearls are sometimes a symbol of vanity.[8] The very action of letter-reading reflects a thematic pattern throughout Vermeer's works, as the quotidian, private moment becomes revealing of the human condition.[9]

The painting is unique among Vermeer's interiors in that no fragment of corner, wall or ceiling can be seen.

During a brief life spent entirely in the Dutch city of Delft, Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) created a small body of work, of which only about 35 paintings are known to exist today. Although Vermeer originally aspired to become a history painter, in the mid-to-late 1650s he began painting intimate genre scenes of well-ordered, beautifully lit interiors, most of which feature an attractive young woman caught in a reflective moment. One of the most celebrated of these paintings is the mesmerizing Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, c. 1663, from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (on loan to the National Gallery of Art through December 1, 2015). Absorbed in her own world, the woman sets the painting’s tranquil mood, which is further enhanced by the spare composition, restricted color palette, and suffused light. While the composition provides enough elements to hint at a narrative, the exact nature of the woman’s circumstances remains elusive. Woman in Blue, like so many of Vermeer’s paintings, ultimately leaves the viewer to ponder both its subject and its enigmatic beauty.

Luminous and exquisitely rendered, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (about 1663–64) is one of Vermeer's most captivating portrayals of a young woman's private world. This generous loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam marks the first appearance of this remarkable painting in the western United States, and the last stop in a world tour heralding the opening of the Rijksmuseum on April 13, 2013, following an extensive renovation. This special installation situates Woman in Blue Reading a Letter among works by Vermeer's leading Dutch contemporaries and highlights the inimitable approach of one of the most celebrated painters of the Golden Age.

Vermeer's quiet scene is at once familiar and enigmatic. The composition is so meticulously ordered, that every element contributes to the reflective mood of the female subject at its center. Standing motionless at a table before an unseen window, a young woman intently reads the crisp page of a letter—possibly a precious message from a lover. On the table, a second page of the missive partially covers a string of large pearls on a blue ribbon, perhaps just removed from the open jewelry box nearby. The woman is comfortably dressed in a blue padded bed jacket (beddejak), decorated with yellow bows on the front and sleeve, and a long heavy skirt. Soft morning light highlights her forehead and glances across the delicate fabric of the jacket, but leaves the bow around a side curl of her hair and the back of her form in deep shadow. It glints off the large brass nails decorating the Spanish chairs, which have lions head finials, as well as the small tacks along the edge of the seat.

In a masterful demonstration of Vermeer's command (and manipulation) of optical effects, the chairs and map rail casts bluish shadows on the wall, but not the woman herself. In keeping with the delicate atmosphere of the interior, he softened the topography represented on the large map of Holland and West Friesland to muted blue, taupe and ocher tonalities that suggest her complex internal state. This is Vermeer's most refined and enigmatic treatment of the popular theme of letter reading. Although the content of the correspondence is a mystery, the woman's bent head and parted lips impart a sense of suspense. The significance of the woman's rounded silhouette, which was reduced along the back by Vermeer during the painting process, has prompted much debate since the late 19th century. For some viewers, her shape suggests pregnancy, which would have been an untypical subject for the period. As seen in other paintings by Vermeer and his contemporaries, the conical shape in style in the mid-1660s was achieved by wearing a flared jacket over a thick skirt turned over at the waist.

Enjoying a quiet, private moment, this young woman is absorbed in reading a letter in the morning light. She is still wearing her blue night jacket. All of the colours in the composition are secondary to its radiant lapis lazuli blue. Vermeer recorded the effects of light with extraordinary precision. Particularly innovative is his rendering of the woman’s skin with pale grey, and the shadows on the wall using light blue.

Brieflezende vrouw. Een jonge vrouw, staande bij een tafel met stoelen, leest een brief. Achter haar hangt aan de muur een landkaart op rollen.

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