Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer

Lady in blue dress reading letter/Dutch/J. Vermeer/Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Although the lady appears to be pregnant, probably she isn’t. There are scholars saying the theme of a pregnant woman is quite unusual during 17th century. She is probably just wearing wide blue jacket, fashionable and common at that moment. She is reading a letter with full concentration. Behind her on the wall is a large map depicting Dutch’s formidable sea trade in its golden age. The letter in painting often associates the idea with love. And the map of exotic place is likely indicating a traveling and absent lover.

A great artist is one that knows how to tell stories. Even in this painting, a static composition, we can hear a suggestion, a question mark, or a hidden story in Vermeer’s master piece.

The blue tone dominates the scene contrasting with and balancing the yellow brown map. He uses a particular technique to bring a layer of transparent lighting to the painting. The light from the left casts shadow on table, chair and map but not affect the lady. She glows without shadow.

讀信的女人/荷蘭/維美爾

雖然畫裡的女人看起來是懷孕中，但據一派專家說法指出，17世紀時把懷孕的女人作為做畫對象是不太平常的事，她應該沒有懷孕，只是穿這樣大大鬆鬆的外衣在當時是流行的。她正專心得在讀信，牆上掛著大幅荷蘭殖民地的地圖，原畫裡可以清楚得看見海岸線。信件這個主題如果出現在當時的畫中，通常與愛情有關。遠方的地圖也許在表示信是由遠方的人寄過來的，可能是她出遠門的情人或丈夫。

偉大的藝術家都是會說故事的人。甚至在這樣一幅簡單，安靜的構圖裡，你可以聽見一個提示，一個問號，或一個故事。

藍色調是整幅畫的重心，平衡與對照著褐黃色的地圖。維美爾把畫面加上一層淡淡透明純淨的光，這是他做畫常用的技巧之一。就像大部份他的畫作一般，光由左邊照進來。桌子，椅子和地圖都有陰影，只有畫中人如同獨立於畫外，身上罩著一層微光而沒有陰影。