The Love Letter

Two women occupy a dim interior: a seated woman in a pale dress with a yellow skirt holds a letter and a stringed instrument, while a maid with a white cap stands behind her. The composition creates depth through a doorway frame, a checkered black-and-white floor, and framed pictures on the back wall, with the figures arranged to form a subtle triangular rhythm. Vermeer uses warm yellows, ochres, and browns balanced by blues and greens, and a soft left-light that highlights textures and surfaces, characteristic of his restrained Dutch Golden Age genre style.