Joseph de Groot (1828-1899) was born in Amsterdam, studied in the Rijsakademie van beeldende kunsten and rapidly specialised in genre scenes reminiscent of the Golden Age's genre painting. He was a member of the art society Arti and Amicitiae, founded in 1839 and that still exists nowadays.
This painting is a typical example of Joseph de Groot's genre painting for which he is best known. This painting took over the compositional scheme of the Golden Age's genre imagery without including any symbolic meaning. The artist only shows us a moment of intimacy with this elegantly lady set in a domestic interior, who is hiding a love letter (as the title suggests) under her blouse.
