Today we can celebrate Women's History Month with this beautiful work of the Czech female artist thanks to the National Gallery in Prague. :)
At the end of the 19th century, it was still quite rare to see the artwork of female painters at exhibitions in Prague. Acquiring an official education was the main problem of women as well as pursuing their career afterwards. Louisa Ehrlerová lived in Prague from 1864; later she married the painter Heinrich Max, which made her the sister-in-law of the famous painter Gabriel Max. She was affected by the art of the brothers; the same figures are found in her paintings: female saints, Madonnas, and women in tense life situations as visible in Telegram, which was purchased at the exhibition of Krasoumná jednota (Fine Arts Union) in the Rudolfinum in 1895.
This painting reminds me of another famous one containing a woman and a letter—read about Vermeer's masterpiece here.