Vermeer's letter writers

If there was one painter who captured the agonies of love letters well, it was surely Johannes Vermeer of Delft, in the Netherlands. These 6 paintings are listed in my order of preference and while I admire the use of light from the window and the colors (lapis lazuli blues and rich yellows and reds) that Vermeer is rightly famous for, what appeals to me the most is the emotions conveyed by the faces of the people in the paintings. These are timeless "still life" paintings in quiet - almost silent - domestic settings and they tell us stories, and in some of those stories there may be sadness. These paintings have tantalized people for centuries.

These are people writing and receiving love letters, a trend that became popular in the 1600's, which is why letters - most of them love letters - appear so often in the Golden Age of Dutch painting. In the Vermeer painting above, a mistress and her maid look over a letter that the mistress has just received. The mistress' fingers on her chin and the maid's comments suggest the two of them are pensive and speculative about the contents of the letter. Is it bad news? The mistress seems shocked.

Vermeer only produced about 36 paintings. Out of those, 20 focus on either a woman alone or a woman and her maid. In the painting above, what is the maid's role here? To deliver the letter? That's the sense I get from her looking out the window. Is she looking at the intended recipient of the letter? And what are we to make of the clues in the painting on the wall: a woman holding a baby? Is it Moses? Is one of the women pregnant? And on the floor, is that a crumpled letter and a broken wax seal?

This painting above is deeply personal and private, where the young woman is reading a love letter - note the Cupid in the wall painting - by the light of the window. But, is that a tear on her cheek? Is it bad news?

Is she pregnant?

Things don't look good here either. Some of these letters qualify as poison pen letters, as others look on in worry. This painting features the door frame, the only one that does, as if we are intruding on a private moment.

The painting above is the only Vermeer where the letter writer is looking back at us, but it wasn't unusual for him to break the fourth wall; c.f. his famous Girl with a Pearl Earring (circa 1665) and almost half of his output.

The following paintings of letter writers are by three of Vermeer's contemporaries. Was the Vermeer painting above influenced by Gerard ter Borch whose work is shown below?

And finally a man writing a letter!

Somewhere in our house are letters I wrote to my wife before we were married. She's hidden them somewhere. Why, I do not know.