Description
Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid is a painting by Johannes Vermeer from 1670–1671: in a room lit by a tall window on the left, a lady in white sits at a table covered with a red patterned carpet and writes, while behind her the maid stands with folded arms and looks out of the window. The original, oil on canvas, is 71.1 cm high and 58.4 cm wide and belongs to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. We paint it by hand to order, in oils on canvas, in one of 8 portrait sizes between 43 x 53 and 172 x 200 cm or a measurement of your own, and a photograph of the finished painting reaches you before dispatch.
| Title: | Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid |
| Other titles: | Schrijvende vrouw met dienstbode · Briefschreiberin und Dienstmagd |
| Painter: | Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) |
| Year painted: | 1670–1671 |
| Original size: | 71.1 cm x 58.4 cm (height x width) |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Baroque, Dutch Golden Age |
| Located at: | National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (acc. no. NGI.4535) |
| Our reproduction: | Hand-painted oil on canvas, 8 sizes or made to measure |
Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid – Johannes Vermeer
What does this Vermeer painting show?
We look into a bright room in a middle-class house. A young lady in a white dress sits at the table, bent over a sheet of paper, writing. Her pen is moving and her eyes stay on the page.
Behind her stands the maid, in brown with a blue apron. Her arms are folded, and she looks not at her mistress but towards the window on the left, partly hidden by a curtain.
A red patterned carpet covers the table, and the floor is laid with black and white tiles. A large painting hangs on the back wall, filling almost the whole space behind the two women.
In the foreground, on the floor, lie a crumpled letter and a seal. They are easy to miss, yet the whole story starts from them.
What story does the letter tell?
The usual reading, which Wikipedia also gives, is that the lady is writing a love letter. The maid seems to act as a messenger between her and a lover we never see, and is waiting to carry the finished letter away.
The two women are close in space but apart in spirit. The lady is absorbed in her writing, while the maid, arms crossed and gaze turned outside, seems restless, even bored.
Not every art historian accepts this reading in full. According to Pascal Bonafoux, the maid being present at something as intimate as the writing of a love letter points to a degree of closeness between the two.
Why is this painting so special?
It is seen as a bridge between the quiet restraint of Vermeer’s works of the 1660s and his cooler painting of the 1670s. It is also his first experiment with a composition that does not hold the focus at the centre alone, and only the third in which the drama does not rest on a single figure.
His love of geometry shows everywhere: in the tiles, and in the verticals of the dresses, the window frame and the painting on the wall. The canvas was almost certainly cut from the same bolt as that of Woman with a Lute, and the idea may have come partly from Ter Borch’s Woman Sealing a Letter.
Letters return again and again in his work. A maid bringing her mistress a letter appears in Mistress and Maid, and a letter is at the heart of The Love Letter too.
For its history and readings in more depth, see the Wikipedia article (in English).
Where is the original today?
The original hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, accession number NGI.4535. The canvas is 71.1 cm high and 58.4 cm wide.
It has had an eventful life. In 1974 it was stolen with other works from Russborough House in Ireland and recovered eight days later. In 1986 a gang led by the Dublin gangster Martin Cahill took it; it came back in 1993, when an exchange at Antwerp airport turned out to be an Irish police sting.
While it was still missing, it had already been donated to the National Gallery in Dublin, where you can see it in person again today.
This painting or another Vermeer?
It suits rooms where people write and think: a study, a corner with a writing desk or a bedroom. The white of the dress and the red of the carpet also brighten a hallway or a dining room.
If you like women with letters, look at Woman in Blue Reading a Letter as well, where a woman reads on her own. For a kitchen or a smaller wall, Young Woman with a Water Pitcher is another scene by a window.
Our full Vermeer shelf, with the famous Vermeer paintings we offer side by side, is on the Johannes Vermeer page.
How does our painter paint it?
Once your order arrives, the painter lays out the large areas on the canvas: the bright window, the white figure at the table, the brown shape of the maid and the dark wall behind. Then he builds the painting in oil, one layer after another.
Two things need the most care. The white dress has to stay white while holding the warm and cool tones that the window light puts into it. And the tiled floor must follow the perspective exactly, or the room falls apart.
The small things come last: the pattern of the carpet, the pen, the seal and the crumpled letter. The result is a Vermeer reproduction with brushstrokes you can feel, something no print can imitate.
An oil painting reproduction also changes with the daylight in your room, much as the light changes in Vermeer’s.
Which size for which wall?
In short: 43 x 53 or 55 x 66 cm for a desk or beside the bed, 64 x 76 or 80 x 96 cm above a chest of drawers or in a hallway, 90 x 107 or 115 x 145 cm above a sofa, and 130 x 162 or 172 x 200 cm for a tall, empty wall.
The 8 portrait sizes (width x height) are: 43 x 53, 55 x 66, 64 x 76, 80 x 96, 90 x 107, 115 x 145, 130 x 162 and 172 x 200 cm. The closest to the original is 55 x 66 cm, which is 3.4 cm narrower and 5.1 cm shorter.
As a painting for the living room above a sofa, 90 x 107 cm works well; let the bottom edge hang about 20 to 25 cm above the backrest.
Is another size or a frame possible?
Yes. The original is roughly 4 : 5 in proportion, so we can also paint it in a size that is not on the list without losing the window or the letter on the floor at the edges. Tell us the width and height on our made-to-order page, and we reply with a price and a delivery time.
Your Lady Writing a Letter travels rolled, stretched on a stretcher bar or already framed. Our workshop in Slovenia does the stretching and framing, the same way it prepares every canvas painting we send out. You choose the frame in our 3D app, which is for picking the frame only; seeing the painting on your own wall is a separate service.
A plain dark wooden frame suits the white dress and the red carpet, while a warm gold moulding brings out the light coming through the window.
When and how will it arrive?
Making it takes 15 to 45 working days from the moment we receive your order. Before it ships we send you a photograph, and if you would like a change, we make it.
Within Slovenia and the rest of the EU there are no customs duties, and our returns policy applies to every order.
A letter scene makes a lovely gift for someone who still writes letters by hand, for a couple on an anniversary or for anyone fond of the Dutch masters. If you would rather the recipient picked the size, a wall art voucher leaves that choice to them.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I see the original?
In the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, accession number NGI.4535.
What is the maid waiting for?
On the usual reading, to take the finished letter away to its recipient.
Was the painting really stolen?
Yes, twice, in 1974 and 1986, and it was recovered both times; today it hangs in Dublin.
Is it a print?
No. Each one is a hand-painted copy, made with a brush in oil paint on canvas.
How big is the original?
It is 71.1 cm high and 58.4 cm wide; our nearest size is 55 x 66 cm.
Will it suit a bedroom?
Yes, the calm scene by the window fits a bedroom, a study or a reading corner.
Can I have it in my own size?
Yes. Send us the width and height, and we reply with the price and the time needed.
How long will I wait?
From 15 to 45 working days, with a photograph of the finished painting before dispatch.
- Subject: a lady in white writes a letter at a table with a red carpet, while the maid behind her stands with folded arms and looks out of the window; a crumpled letter and a seal lie on the floor.
- Original: about 1670–1671, oil on canvas, 71.1 x 58.4 cm, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.
- Ours: painted by hand to order in oil on canvas, in 8 portrait sizes from 43 x 53 to 172 x 200 cm or a size you set yourself.
- Worth knowing: the original was stolen twice and recovered both times; today it hangs in Dublin.
