Woman reading a letter

The heroine of this painting is absorbed in reading letters from her lover. Sheet she keeps in the corner not only to him fell more light, but to hide the content from my maid. However, the servant knows what it is about the message. She warns her mistress, pushing the curtain (they were used to protect paintings from light and dust) the image of a ship sailing on rough seas. Thus she suggests that love is like troubled water.

In the original Metso had intended to dress the lady in the red jacket, and then made it yellow. But the original paint is still visible to the naked eye. The artist made a change, knowing that the jackets in this color – one of the distinguishing features of the work of Jan Vermeer mid-1660-ies. Metso wrote yellow velvet smooth, almost schematic, that contrasted with other fragments of the painting, but reminiscent of the style of his Delft colleagues.

The maid holds another letter, this time addressed to "Mr. Metso, Amst[erdam], port". It is not part of the narrative, the artist simply signed his work in a humorous way.

Picture "Woman reading a letter"most likely is paired with the panel "Young man writing a letter".