Watch the short
Woman Reading a Letter
Johannes Vermeer
c. 1663
There's no window in the picture, yet the light clearly comes from the left; we can't read the letter, yet the whole room seems to wait for her to finish. The painting is just 46.5 × 39 cm — far smaller than most people imagine.
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There's no window in this painting. Vermeer still shows you where it is.
JOHANNES VERMEER Woman Reading a Letter c. 1663 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Look at the shadow on the wall: he painted it light blue,
cast by an unseen window to the left.
The light falls on her jacket,
its blue made from costly lapis lazuli.
The 2010 restoration found it was first painted wider:
he cut it back.
It's a jacket worn only at home,
so the museum reads the letter as personal.
No window, no words of the letter: only a woman reading.
A slim walnut frame leaves the light alone; warm white continues Vermeer's room.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. A. van der Hoop Bequest. SK-C-251. · View the source record