A painting which, rightly, nobody considers to be the height of Vermeer's genius. This is a much more sober work, lacking the effects we saw in WOMAN WEIGHING GOLD and YOUNG WOMAN WITH EWER.
The emotional content of WOMAN READING A LETTER bursts out, like the small square of folded white paper against the parchment of the large map.

WOMAN IN BLUE READING A LETTER - c. 1662-1665
46.5 x 38 cm. - The Rijksmuseum