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Mujer leyendo una carta
Johannes Vermeer
c. 1663
No hay ninguna ventana en la imagen, y sin embargo la luz proviene claramente de la izquierda; no podemos leer la carta, pero toda la habitación parece esperar a que ella termine. La pintura mide solo 46,5 × 39 cm, mucho más pequeña de lo que la mayoría de la gente imagina.
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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. · Ver el registro de la fuente