WOMAN IN BLUE READING A LETTER
(Brieflezende vrouw in het blauw)
c. 1662-1665
oil on canvas
18 1/4 x 15 3/8 in. (46.5 x 39 cm.)
The Rijksmuseum
"Vermeer's 'Woman in Blue Reading a Letter' seems so harmonious in color, theme and mood that it is hard to imagine any other compositional solution. Indeed, as in others of his paintings, one has difficulty imagining Vermeer at work, as an artist who had to somehow compose and make tangible a concept he had conceived in his mind. Part of the problem in visualizing Vermeer's working procedure stems from the lack of available information. No drawings, prints or unfinished paintings-indeed, no records of commissions-offer clues to his intent or aspects of his working process."
Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Vermeer and the Art of Painting, 1995
rijksmuseum, amsterdam