Description
A Lady Writing a Letter comes from the mature years of Johannes Vermeer and was painted in the mid-to-late 1660s: a young woman in a lemon-yellow jacket trimmed with ermine sits at a table, quill in her right hand, and looks up from her writing towards us with a faint smile. Pearls gleam in her hair and at her ear, and a pearl necklace, a small box and an inkwell lie on the blue cloth of the table. The original, oil on canvas, is 45 cm high and 40 cm wide and belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. When you order, our painter brings it onto canvas in oil colours, in one of 8 portrait sizes from 43 x 47 to 172 x 200 cm or in a size of your choosing, and before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished painting.
| Title: | A Lady Writing a Letter |
| Other titles: | A Lady Writing · Schrijvende vrouw in het geel |
| Painter: | Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) |
| Year painted: | mid-to-late 1660s |
| Original size: | 45 cm x 40 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Baroque, Dutch Golden Age |
| Located at: | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
A Lady Writing a Letter – Johannes Vermeer
What does A Lady Writing a Letter show?
A young woman sits at a table writing a letter. The quill is still in her right hand, but she has turned her head away from the paper and looks straight at us, as if someone had just interrupted her.
She wears a lemon-yellow morning jacket edged with ermine, white fur dotted with dark spots. Pearls are set in her hair, and a pearl at her ear catches the light.
Every small object is gathered on the table: the blue cloth, the pearl necklace, a little box and the inkwell.
On the back wall hangs a dark painting that spans about two-thirds of the width of the scene. Only part of it is visible, showing a large string instrument, probably a violone.
What does the dark painting on the wall mean?
The inventory of Vermeer’s estate records that he owned a vanitas still life with a double bass and a skull. Compared with the known still lifes of Cornelis van der Meulen, the painting on the wall is likely to be by his hand.
Vanitas pictures were popular in the Dutch Republic. They reminded viewers how empty worldly ambition is and how everything people achieve passes away, often by setting signs of death and decay beside luxuries and tokens of success.
By hanging such a work in a rich room behind an elegantly dressed lady, Vermeer was probably making that very point: pearls, fur and every possession come to an end one day.
Why do people love A Lady Writing a Letter?
There are few objects on the canvas, and each is placed with care. The small forms on the table contrast with the broad areas of wall, painting and tabletop, which give the figure a calm geometric frame.
The yellow jacket, the tablecloth and the string of pearls appear in other works by Vermeer as well. This has led to speculation that he or his family owned these things, and even that his models were relatives. It has often been suggested, too, that in his models Vermeer painted what he could not give his own wife and family: calm and affluence.
The scene and the painting’s path through its collections are described in more detail in the Wikipedia article (in English).
Where is the original of A Lady Writing a Letter?
The original is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Like many of Vermeer’s pictures, it was made for his patron Pieter van Ruijven (1624–1674). From him it probably passed by inheritance to his widow, Maria de Knuijt, then to their daughter Magdalena van Ruijven and to her husband, Jacobus Dissius.
After the death of Dissius it was auctioned in Amsterdam on 16 May 1696. It stayed with Dutch owners until the early nineteenth century; in 1827 the Belgian politician François de Robiano bought it, and it remained in his family until 1907, when the American banker John Pierpont Morgan acquired it.
In 1946 the collector Horace Havemeyer acquired the work, and in 1962 Harry Waldron Havemeyer and Horace Havemeyer gave it to the National Gallery of Art.
A Lady Writing a Letter or another Vermeer?
A Lady Writing a Letter is a quiet canvas painting for a study, a corner with a writing desk or a home library.
The same ermine-trimmed yellow jacket is worn by the woman holding up a string of pearls before a mirror in Woman with a Pearl Necklace. Do not confuse our painting with the Dublin work Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, in which a maid stands beside the woman who writes.
If letters draw you, look also at The Love Letter, and for a calm female face without a story, Study of a Young Woman. More famous Vermeer paintings that we paint to order wait for you on the Johannes Vermeer page.
How is your painting made by our painter?
Our painter works in oil on canvas and builds the picture up in several layers. First come the large light and dark areas: the pale wall, the dark painting behind the figure and the table in front.
Then he shapes the yellow jacket, with soft folds and warm light, and the face, where the smile and the glance are decided. Pearls, quill and inkwell come last, with a fine brush.
The result is a Vermeer reproduction with real brushstrokes and layers of paint that no print has. Like every oil painting reproduction, it lives with the light in your room: the yellow glows in the morning and softens in the evening.
Which size suits your wall?
The quick answer: 43 x 47 or 50 x 55 cm for a desk or a narrow wall, 68 x 75 or 75 x 85 cm above a chest of drawers, 97 x 106 or 120 x 140 cm above a sofa or a bed, and 140 x 150 or 172 x 200 cm for a large wall or a stairwell.
We paint it in 8 portrait sizes (width x height): 43 x 47, 50 x 55, 68 x 75, 75 x 85, 97 x 106, 120 x 140, 140 x 150 and 172 x 200 cm. The nearest to the original is 43 x 47 cm, which is 3 cm wider and 2 cm taller.
As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 97 x 106 cm works well, hung with her face at about eye level.
Can I order a different size and a frame?
Yes. The original is roughly 8 : 9 in proportion, so we can adapt it to an unlisted size without losing the table or the wall painting at the edges. Send us the width and height through our made-to-order page, and we will reply with a price and a time frame.
It can come rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or framed; the stretching and framing are done by our workshop in Slovenia. You pick the frame in our 3D application, which is meant for that choice only; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
When will A Lady Writing a Letter arrive?
Once you confirm the order, the painter starts work, and in 15 to 45 working days the painting is ready to ship. Before dispatch we send you a photograph of the finished work, and if anything is not to your liking, we correct it.
There are no customs charges for Slovenia or any other EU country, and every order is covered by our returns policy.
A Lady Writing a Letter makes a fine gift for someone who loves to write, read or keep up a correspondence. If they should choose the size themselves, give them a wall art voucher.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the original hang?
In the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which has owned it since 1962.
What is the woman doing?
She is writing a letter with a quill, but looks up from the paper for a moment towards the viewer.
What is in the painting behind her?
Part of a dark still life with a large string instrument, probably a violone, likely by Cornelis van der Meulen.
Is it a print?
No. Every one we make is a hand-painted copy, done with brush and oil paint on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 45 cm high and 40 cm wide; our smallest size, 43 x 47 cm, is only a little larger.
Would it suit a bedroom or a study?
Yes, the calm figure and warm colours suit a bedroom, a study or a library.
Can I have it in another size?
Yes, we paint it in the width and height you want and tell you the price and timing first.
How long does it take to make?
Between 15 and 45 working days, and a photograph of your finished Lady Writing a Letter reaches you before dispatch.
- Subject: a young woman in an ermine-trimmed yellow jacket writes a letter and looks up at us; on the table lie a pearl necklace, a box and an inkwell.
- Original: mid-to-late 1660s, oil on canvas, 45 x 40 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
- Ours: hand-painted in oil on canvas, in 8 portrait sizes from 43 x 47 to 172 x 200 cm or your own size.
- Worth knowing: the dark painting on the wall is probably a vanitas still life that Vermeer himself owned.
