Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
window to the left, and the footstool at right), then fills this space
with objects for our perusal.
Vermeer—
Woman Reading a Letter
(c. 1662-1663)
Vermeer's placid scenes often have an air of mystery. The woman
is reading a letter. From whom? A lover? A father on a two-year
business trip to Indonesia? Not even
taking time to sit down, she reads it
intently, with parted lips and a bowed
head. It must be important. (She looks
pregnant, adding to the mystery, but
that may just be the cut of her clothes.)
Again, Vermeer has framed a
moment of everyday life. But within
this small world are hints of a wider,
wilder world—the light coming from
the left is obviously from a large win-
dow, giving us a whiff of the life going on outside. The map hangs
prominently, reminding us of travel, and perhaps of where the
letter is from.
Vermeer—
The Love Letter
(c. 1669-1670)
There's a similar theme here. The curtain parts, and we see
through the doorway into a dollhouse
world, then through the seascape on the
back wall to the wide ocean. A woman
is playing a lute when she's interrupted
by a servant bringing a letter. The mys-
terious letter stops the music, intruding
like a pebble dropped into the pool of
Vermeer's quiet world. The f loor tiles
create a strong 3-D perspective that
sucks us straight into the center of the
painting—the woman's heart.
Vermeer—
View of Houses in Delft
(a.k.a.
The Little Street,
c. 1658)
Vermeer was born in the picturesque
town of Delft, grew up near its Market
Square, and set a number of his paint-
ings there. This may be the view from
his front door.
In
The Little Street,
the details
act ua l ly a ren't ver ly deta i led—the
cobblestone street doesn't have a single
individual stone in it. But Vermeer
