THE LOVE LETTER
(De liefdesbrief)
c. 1667-1670
oil on canvas
17 3/8 x 15 1/8 in. (44 x 38.5.cm)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
an interactive analysis
scroll your cursor over
any one of the 19 hot areas of the
painting, or the four topics below
(browsers: IE 4+, IE 5+, IE 6+, NS 4+, NS 6+)
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| The floral-patterned repoussoir (in French repoussoir means push back) curtain is yet another element which helps to divide the pictured scene from the observer's space and enhance the illusion of depth. It stimulates the viewer's participation as if the drawn-back curtain was meant to reveal some unexpected event. It may have been a personal possession of Vermeer since it appears in various paintings. It most likely would have been considered a luxury item. In the Lacemaker, it lies on the tabletop beneath the still-life and in the Allegory of Faith it lies on the raised platform. However, it produces the most dramatic effect in the Art of Painting. In the Love Letter, the sinuous patterns of flowers and leaves mitigate the highly geometric scheme of the composition. |
literacy, letter-writing & suitable maids
Cupid with a
Messanger
emblem from Otto Vaenius, Amorum Emblemata...
Antwerp, 1608
Library, Faculty of Arts Utrecht University
Although an upsurge letter writing had given birth given to a thriving postal service in the 17th century Netherlands, it was
far from organized. Messengers multiplied but complaints often arose about
these "hirelings" who tended to
inflate postage rates. They were also noted for their impertinent
behavior. Some great men and well-to-do private citizens
retained their own trusted private couriers in order to maintain
communications secret. Even though in the Netherlands the literacy rate
was unusually high, females were less literate since they were usually
given less formal education and were not permitted to attend Latin school.
Servant girls could rarely sign their name and probably could not read, suggesting that they provided an exceptionally discreet corps of letter delivery. The Hague poet Jacob Westerbaen, enlarging on Ovid's Art of Love, recommended women to "show your mind with letters," to learn to hold the quill in the right hand and the lyre in the left, and to entrust letters with suitable maids.
listen here to period cittern music MP3 audio-file of:
The Voice of the Ghost
performed by: Lee Santana
- to compile the text of this interactive study, the following resources were used
- ADAMS, Ann Jensen, "Disciplining the Hand, Disciplining the Heart: Letter-Writing Paintings and Practices in Seventeenth-Century Holland," in Love Letters: Dutch Genre Paintings in the Age of Vermeer, London, 2004, pp. 63-76
- BLANKERT, Albert, (with
contributions by RUURS, Rob and VAN DE WATERING, Willem), Vermeer, Oxford,
1978
- GOODMAN, Elise, "The Landscape on the Wall in Vermeer," in The Cambridge Companion Guide to Vermeer,, edited by Wayne Franits, Cambridge, 2001, pp. 76-78
- GOWING, Lawrence, Vermeer, London, 1952 and 1970
- DE JONGH, Eddy, "On Balance," ed., I. Gaskell & M. Jonker, in Vermeer Studies, New Haven and London, 1998, pp. 351-365
- DE JONGH, Eddy, "Frans van Mieris: Questions of Understanding," in Frans van Mieris 1635-1681, ed., Quentin Buvelot, Zwolle, 2005, pp. 44-61
- LIEDTKE, Walter, in Vermeer and the Delft School, ed.by Ivan Gaskell and Michiel Jonker ,New York, 2001
- NASH, J. M., Vermeer, London, 1991
- NEVITT, H. Rodney Jr., "Vermeer and the Question of Love," in The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer, edited by Wayne Franits, Cambridge, 2001, pp. 89-110
- SUTTON, Peter, "Love Letters: Dutch Genre paintings in the Age of Vermeer," in Love Letters: Dutch Genre Paintings in the Age of Vermeer, London, 2004, pp. 14-49
- VERGARA, Alejandro, Vermeer and the Dutch Interior, Madrid, 2003
- VERGARA, Lisa, "Women, Letters, Artistic Beauty: Vermeer's Themes and Vaeiations," in Love Letters: Dutch Genre Paintings in the Age of Vermeer, London, 2004, pp. 50-62
- de WINKEL, Marieke, "The Interpretation of Dress in Vermeer's Painting," in Vermeer Studies, edited by Ivan Gaskell and Michiel Jonker, National Gallery of Art Washington D.C., Yale University Press, New Haven, London 1998
- WHEELOCK, Arthur K. Jr., Vermeer and the Art of Painting, New Haven and London, 1995