A lady reading a love letter

The plot of the painting is very simple. A young pregnant woman stands, leaning her head, and reads attentively the letter that she holds in her hands. She is wearing a blue blouse, a yellowish skirt. There are two chairs with dark blue upholstery, a little table under a dark blue cloth. Everything is very simple. But strange greatness hides in this underlined simplicity, it has the eternal wisdom of life and that unity of a person and the world, a person and light that is called happiness.

However, experts assure us that "Lady reading a love letter" can strike you not only by the force of the emotional influence. For an expert it is similar to a rebus, to a smart riddle, the key to which is hidden in the painting. First of all it is about the plot of the "love letter".

In the XVII century of love letters were a separate genre, and they were very popular (also because the viewer knew how to decipher a letter). Certainly, the text of the letter remained inaccessible, but it could be restored, using numerous "speaking" details. The lute - zither informed about consent in love, sea landscape on the walls told us about traveling of the beloved, a bow of Amur spoke about passion.

According to our modern point of view, the paintings by Vermeer do not require this help. They leave an unforgettable impression. Although there are details that help us to understand the picture. On "Lady reading the letter" there is a geographical map, covered by rivers and roads. It is the original screen on which ideas of the heroine are projected, and simultaneously it is the key to understand the painting.