Description
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window is an early interior by Johannes Vermeer from about 1657–1659: a young woman in a green-yellow dress stands in profile at an open leaded window, reading a letter, while her face is faintly reflected in the glass. A large green curtain hangs at the right edge as if someone had just pulled it aside, and in the foreground stands a table with a red patterned carpet and a tilted bowl of apples and peaches. The original, oil on canvas, is 83 cm high and 64.5 cm wide and hangs in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. Once you order, our painter brings it onto canvas with brush and oil colours, in one of 8 portrait sizes from 40 x 49 to 142 x 190 cm or a size of your choice; before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window |
| Other titles: | Brieflezend meisje bij het venster · Brieflesendes Mädchen am offenen Fenster |
| Painter: | Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) |
| Year painted: | c. 1657–1659 |
| Original size: | 83 cm x 64.5 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Baroque, Dutch Golden Age |
| Located at: | Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Gal.-Nr. 1336) |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window – Johannes Vermeer
What does Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window show?
The girl stands in a corner of the room, close to the window on the left, and we see her in strict profile. She holds an unfolded sheet in both hands and is so absorbed in reading that she notices nothing around her.
The window, with its lead cames and small panes, has swung open inwards. In its lower part her face is faintly reflected, and a red drape hangs over the top of the window.
A large green curtain closes off the right edge of the canvas, as though someone had just drawn it back to peer into the room.
In the foreground is a table covered with a heavy red carpet. On it a tilted bowl lets apples and peaches spill out; one peach is cut in half, showing its stone. On the back wall hangs a large painting of Cupid, which was long hidden under overpaint.
What does the letter at the open window mean?
According to the art historian Norbert Schneider, the open window stands for the young woman’s longing to reach beyond the limits of home and society, and the fruit for a relationship outside marriage.
The restoration gave this reading fresh weight: the painting of Cupid on the wall suggests that the girl is reading a love letter.
Letters come back again and again in Vermeer’s work. A different moment, with a lady writing while her maid waits beside her, is shown in Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid.
Why is this painting by Vermeer so well known?
It is among the early works in which Vermeer lets the light of a window on the left tell the story almost on its own. Such quiet rooms, lit from the left, became the mark of the Delft painter, of whom only a few dozen works are known.
On the brightest spots, the fruit and the girl’s hair, he placed tiny white dots of light. Together with one other early painting, this is the earliest known example of the pointillé for which Vermeer became known.
The story of the canvas and its restoration is told in detail in the Wikipedia article (in English).
Where is the original, and what journey has it made?
The original hangs in Dresden, in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, which lists it as number 1336. The canvas is 83 cm high and 64.5 cm wide.
In 1742 Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, bought it in the belief that it was by Rembrandt. In 1826 it was given to Pieter de Hooch, and only in the 19th century did the French critic Théophile Thoré-Bürger recognise Vermeer’s hand and restore its true author.
Saved from the bombing of Dresden in the Second World War in a tunnel in Saxony, it was taken by the Red Army to the Soviet Union and came home after the 1955 decision to return it.
In 2017 tests showed that the varnish on part of the back wall had been applied after Vermeer’s death. Between 2018 and 2021 restorers removed the overpaint with scalpel and microscope, and since then the work has hung in Dresden as Vermeer painted it.
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window or another Vermeer?
It is a canvas painting for a reading corner, a home office or a bedroom.
If the theme of the letter draws you, look too at Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, where another woman reads in a bright room. If you would rather have a face that looks straight at you, choose Girl with a Red Hat, and for a livelier scene with several figures there is The Procuress.
Every one of the famous Vermeer paintings in our range, with all its sizes, is listed on the Johannes Vermeer page.
How does our painter paint this work for you?
Once your order is confirmed, the painter first lays out the large areas on the canvas: the pale wall, the dark corner of the room, the window and the upright figure of the girl.
He then builds the green curtain in thin layers. Vermeer mixed it mainly from blue azurite and lead-tin yellow, and the red parts of the carpet from vermilion, madder lake and lead white.
The result is a Vermeer reproduction in which, in good light, you can make out every brushstroke. As with every oil painting reproduction, its colours shift through the day: the green curtain looks cooler in the morning, and in evening light the red carpet glows.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 40 x 49 or 45 x 60 cm for a narrow wall or a bedside table, 58 x 75 or 66 x 83 cm above a desk or a chest of drawers, 80 x 108 or 100 x 135 cm above a sofa, and 117 x 145 or 142 x 190 cm for a tall wall or a stairwell.
You can choose from 8 portrait sizes (width x height): 40 x 49, 45 x 60, 58 x 75, 66 x 83, 80 x 108, 100 x 135, 117 x 145 and 142 x 190 cm. The closest to the original is 66 x 83 cm, the same height and only 1.5 cm wider.
As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 80 x 108 or 100 x 135 cm work best; hang it so that the painted window sits at about the eye level of someone seated.
Can I choose another size or a frame?
Yes. The original is about 7 : 9 in proportion, so we can paint it in a size that is not on the list without the curtain or the fruit bowl slipping off the edge. Send us the width and height on our made-to-order paintings page, and we reply with price and timing.
The painting comes rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing, as it does for every painting we send out. You pick the frame in our 3D app, which is only for choosing the frame; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will my painting arrive?
We start painting as soon as you confirm the order, and within 15 to 45 working days the painting is ready to travel. Before we send it, you get a photograph of the finished work, and if you want any change, we make it.
Within Slovenia and the rest of the EU the parcel passes no customs, and our returns policy covers every order.
Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window is a fine gift for someone who loves reading, writing letters or quiet interiors. For a book lover who has not yet picked a wall, a wall art voucher leaves the size open.
Frequently asked questions
Where can the original be seen?
At the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, which has owned it since 1742.
What is the girl reading?
A letter; the painting of Cupid behind her suggests it is a love letter.
Is it a print?
No, it is a hand-painted copy: curtain, letter and fruit are all made with a brush and oil colours on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 83 cm high and 64.5 cm wide; our nearest size is 66 x 83 cm.
Can I order a different size?
Yes, we paint it in the width and height you choose and tell you the price in advance.
How long will I wait?
From 15 to 45 working days, then we ship it, with no customs inside the EU.
Is it a good gift?
Very much so, especially for lovers of books, letters and calm domestic scenes.
Why was Cupid hidden?
Someone painted over him long after Vermeer’s death; restorers uncovered him between 2018 and 2021.
- Subject: a girl in a green-yellow dress reads a letter at an open window, beside a green curtain and a table with fruit.
- Original: c. 1657–1659, oil on canvas, 83 x 64.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden.
- Ours: oil on canvas, painted by hand to order, in 8 portrait sizes from 40 x 49 to 142 x 190 cm or a size you choose.
- Worth knowing: the painting of Cupid on the wall was long painted over and has been visible again only since the restoration finished in 2021.
