Donna che legge una lettera

0:00 There's no window in this painting. Vermeer still shows you where it is.

0:09 JOHANNES VERMEER Woman Reading a Letter c. 1663 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

0:14 Look at the shadow on the wall: he painted it light blue,

0:20 cast by an unseen window to the left.

0:25 The light falls on her jacket,

0:30 its blue made from costly lapis lazuli.

0:37 The 2010 restoration found it was first painted wider:

0:44 he cut it back.

0:50 It's a jacket worn only at home,

0:55 so the museum reads the letter as personal.

1:02 No window, no words of the letter: only a woman reading.

1:13 A slim walnut frame leaves the light alone; warm white continues Vermeer's room.