Girl reading a letter at an open window by Johannes Vermeer 1657

April 19, 2021

Girl reading a letter at an open window by Johannes Vermeer 1657–1659

"Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” has a decidedly protracted provenance. Attributed first to Rembrandt and later to Pieter de Hooch, the canvas was only identified as a Vermeer original in 1862. During World War II, the contemplative scene narrowly escaped destruction in the firebombing of Dresden, but then fell into the hands of the invading Soviets, who refused to return the plundered painting until 1955.

Now, ongoing restoration work has added yet another wrinkle to the story of the 1657 masterpiece: As Germany’s Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden announced earlier this week, a recent bout of laboratory testing confirmed that a long-hidden Cupid found in the top right-hand corner of the canvas was painted over not by the Dutch Golden Age artist, but an unknown party who acted decades after Vermeer’s death. Although art historians have known of the little God of love’s existence since 1979, they previously believed Vermeer covered up the figure himself and, as a result, decided against restoring the painting to its original form.

According to a press release, conservators opted to remove the overpainting in lieu of their discovery, but rather than waiting until the process is complete to return the work to its place in the museum’s Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, they have decided to pause halfway through so that Cupid—or more specifically his head and upper body—can finally make his public debut. Between May 8 and June 16, visitors will be able to view the painting, complete with a semi-unveiled Cupid painstakingly exposed by scalpel scraping, before it returns to the studio for the final stages of restoration.

As artnet News’ Kate Brown reports, conservator Christoph Schölzel began working on the painting in 2017, using X-ray, infrared reflectography imaging and microscopic analyses to examine its underlying layers. These tests, conducted in conjunction with research on the canvas’ restoration history, offered decisive proof that Vermeer was not the one responsible for replacing Cupid with a blank wall."

-taken from smithsonianmag link below

Johannes Vermeer, Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window (as it appeared in May 2019), c. 1657-9. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany. © SKD, Foto: Wolfgang Kreische.

(Left) the original restored. (Right) the fake, defaced version.


Vermeer experts gather around the partially-restored painting during a May 7, 2019 press conference. © SKD, Foto: Sebastian Kahnert.


Vermeer, Johannes – Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window; Cupid, c. 1657-9. Restauration Dr. Cristoph Schölzel, AM-1336, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Ale Meister, Foto Wolfgang Kreische.