Woman Reading a Letter

Johannes Vermeer, c. 1663

Enjoying a quiet, private moment, this young woman is absorbed in reading a letter in the morning light. She is still wearing her blue night jacket. All of the colours in the composition are secondary to its radiant lapis lazuli blue. Vermeer recorded the effects of light with extraordinary precision. Particularly innovative is his rendering of the woman’s skin with pale grey, and the shadows on the wall using light blue.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-C-251
  • Dimensionsheight 46.5 cm x width 39 cm x depth 6.5 cm, height 70 cm x width 63 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Woman Reading a Letter
    • Woman in Blue Reading a Letter
  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-C-251

  • Description

    Brieflezende vrouw. Een jonge vrouw, staande bij een tafel met stoelen, leest een brief. Achter haar hangt aan de muur een landkaart op rollen.


Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Johannes Vermeer

  • Dating

    c. 1663

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    • height 46.5 cm x width 39 cm x depth 6.5 cm
    • height 70 cm x width 63 cm

This work is about

  • Subject


Exhibitions


Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    On loan from the City of Amsterdam (A. van der Hoop Bequest)

  • Copyright

  • Provenance

    …; ? sale Pieter van der Lip (1655-1712), Amsterdam, 14 June 1712, no. 22, fl. 110;{Hoet and Terwesten 1752-1770, vol. 1 (1752), p. 147.} …; ? collection Mozes de Chaves (1718-1762), Amsterdam, 1759;{In Meijer 1947, p. 12 an inventory is included of the collection Mozes de Chaves: ‘Staat en Inventaris van den Boedel en Nalatenschap van Wijlen de Heer Mozes de Chaves’ on which the painting is mentioned as follows: ‘Een blauwe Meisje door Vermeer van Delft’.} his sale, Amsterdam (H. de Winter and J. Yver), 30 November 1772 sqq., no. 23, as ‘Van der Neer (de Delfsche)’, fl. 40, to the dealer Fouquet;{Exh.cat. Dresden 2021, p. 230; Copy Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.} …; sale Pieter Lyonet (1706-1789, The Hague), Amsterdam (P.B. Bunel et al.), 11 April 1791 sqq., no. 181, fl. 43, to the dealer P. Fouquet;{Copy RKD.} …; anonymous sale, Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 14 August 1793 sqq., no. 73, fl. 70;{Copy RKD; in Liedtke 2008 incorrectly as no. 739.} …; sale Herman ten Kate (1741-1800, The Hague), Amsterdam (P. van der Schley et al.), 10 June 1801 sqq., no. 118, fl. 110, to Taijs;{Copy RKD.} …; sale Auguste-Louis-Cesar-Hyppolite-Theodore de L’Espinasse de Langeac (1759-1814), Paris (A. Paillet and H. Delaroche), 16 January 1809 sqq., no. 85, fr. 200, to Augustin Lapeyrière (1779-1831), Paris;{Copy Philadelphia Museum of Art.} his sale, Paris (M. Lacoste), 19 April 1825 sqq., no. 127, fr. 2,060 or fr. 1,060, to Berthaud;{Copy RKD1; copy Philadelphia Museum of Art.} …; the dealer John Smith, London, 1831;{Sebag-Montefiore and Armstrong-Totten 2013, p. 30, n.27.} by whom, £73 10 s, to Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854), Amsterdam, 1839;{Ibid., p. 22.} by whom bequeathed to the Academie voor Schone Kunsten, Amsterdam; transferred to the City of Amsterdam, 1885; on loan to the museum since 1885


Documentation

    • 'Vermeer', bijlage Vrij Nederland, 24 februari 1996, nr. 8.
    • A.B. de Vries, Openbaar Kunstbezit 9 (1965), nr. 39.
    • M.A. Castor, 'Augenblick und Zeitfluss : Bemerkungen zu einigen Konstanten in der Malerei Jan Vermeers', Pantheon 54 (1996), p. 91.
    • Liza Burmeister Kaaring, 'Tracking the Language of Stillness', SMK Artjournal : Statens Museum for Kunst (2007), p. 108-115, p. 112, afb. 6.
    • W. Thoré-Bürger, Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1866)
    • Karin Leonhard, 'Vermeer's Pregnant Women : On Human Generation an Pictorial Representation', Art History 25 (2002) nr. 3, p. 293-318.
    • H. van Gelder, 'Haagsche Kunstverzamelingen voor 1900', Die Haghe (1942), p. 26, afb. 9.
    • K. Clark, Connaissance des Arts (1974), p. 78.
    • James A. Welu, 'Vermeer : his cartographic sources', The Art Bulletin 57 (1975), p. 532-533, 541, afb. 3.
    • R. Roos, 'Johannes Vermeer', Vernisage (1996) mrt., p. 12.
    • K. Zandvliet, 'In plaets van schilderijen', Vitrine (1996) mrt./apr., p. 16-17.
    • Daniel A. Fink, 'Vermeer's Use of the Camera Obscura : A Comparative Study', The Art Bulletin 53 (1971), p. 493-505.

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