Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window

We have featured this painting once already; but it is so mesmerizing that we had to do it again, now on the last day of our special month with a collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. We hope you loved this feature as much as we did!  :)

Until 2020, this world-famous composition had shown a young woman reading in a tall room with a whitewashed, bare back wall. It turned out, however, that Vermeer had created a different painting between 1657 and 1659 with his Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window than the one that had become, as it were, iconic in its previous form. The white wall of the room bore a large overpainting that had been known for a long time and had always been attributed to Vermeer himself. Scientific research recently proved beyond doubt, however, that the light overpainting in the upper half of the picture did not come from the artist's hand. The motif of the Cupid, which adorns the wall as a "picture within a picture," must have been erased from the painting by another hand well after Vermeer's death. Together with a commission of experts, it was decided to remove this overpainting as part of a spectacular restoration project, thus restoring the painting to its original appearance intended by the artist. Now the wall contains the depiction of a standing Cupid holding a bow with his right hand and his left arm raised. A clearer indication of the hidden amorous content of the letter in the young girl's hand was hardly conceivable for the contemporary viewer.

Have a calm Sunday everyone!

P.S. You  can read more about the artsy investigation and the mysterious Cupid uncovered on Vermeer's canvas.  :)

P.P.S. Don't forget about our Art Journals, designed to write down your thoughts about art.  :)