Johannes VermeerDutch, 1632–1675The Love Letter
De liefdesbrief
May one see it?
Unknown: the museum keeps its counsel
Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam, Netherlands
The owner is known. Whether it is on view today, the museum does not say, and we were not trained to guess.
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
The Love Letter (Dutch: De liefdesbrief) is a 17th-century genre painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer. The painting shows a servant maid commenting to her mistress on a letter the woman holds. The painting is in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Particulars
- Accession number
- SK-A-1595
What it shows
Sources
- Rijksmuseum: the museum's own open data · fetched 3 days ago
- Image: Wikimedia Commons — Public domain
Meanwhile, in the life of Johannes Vermeer
The whole life1653–1675
Patrons: van Ruijven and van Buyten
Pieter van Ruijven and his wife Maria de Knuijt were Vermeer's patrons for the better part of his career: van Ruijven bought much of his output, which kept Vermeer afloat financially but reduced the chances of his fame spreading beyond Delft. The baker Hendrick van Buyten held a couple of his paintings as collateral.
1653–1675 · Workplace
Delft
1670
Death of his mother
In 1670 Vermeer's mother, Digna Baltens, who came from Antwerp, died.
1672
The “Year of Disaster”: war and the collapse of the market
In 1672 the Rampjaar, a severe economic downturn, struck the Dutch Republic after French troops under Louis XIV invaded from the south and troops from Münster and Cologne from the east. Vermeer's sale of a painting that year was his last, and five years passed before circumstances improved.
1672
To The Hague: appraising a collection for the Elector
In 1672 Vermeer, a recognised connoisseur, travelled to The Hague, where together with the painter Jacob Jordaens he appraised Venetian and Roman paintings offered to the Elector of Brandenburg for 30,000 guilders. Before a notary he denied the collection's authenticity and declared it worth no more than a tenth of the asking price.
