Decades Later, Someone Painted Over Part of This Famous Painting

Decades later, someone painted over part of this famous painting.

The 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer — yo-HAHN-ness vehr-MEAR — is considered one of the greatest painters of all time. And for centuries, people have considered “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” one of his best paintings. It has the rich colors and the wonderful lighting we associate with Vermeer. And although the painting seems simple, it is actually filled with mystery. We do not know what is in the letter the girl is reading. But at the time, viewers would have known that the peaches on the table represented the human heart. And the open window seems to suggest that the subject is longing to escape from (or to) something.

“Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” belongs to the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden, Germany. But the version we are familiar with is not exactly the one Johannes Vermeer painted. Four decades ago, art experts x-rayed this painting. They learned that the back wall once contained a large portrait of a Cupid. Cupid was the Roman god of love, often shown as a baby with a bow and arrow.

The art experts assumed that Vermeer himself painted over the Cupid for artistic reasons. But when they looked closer, they saw a very thin layer of dirt. After analyzing this dirt, they realized that someone else must have done the repainting several decades later, after the artist was already dead. The museum hired art restorers to carefully take off this layer of paint. When they are done, they say, we will finally see this famous painting the way Vermeer intended.

We do not know much about Johannes Vermeer’s life. We know he was born in 1632 and died in 1675 at the age of 43. We do not know how many paintings he left behind; art historians have only found 34 that are definitely his. We do not even know what Vermeer looked like, although a portrait of a young man — painted when Vermeer was 22 years old — is assumed to be a self-portrait.

What we do know about Vermeer is fascinating. As a young man, he took over his father’s art business, buying and selling paintings by other artists. He married at the age of 20, and he and his wife — who might have been the model for “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” — had eleven children.

Vermeer was so busy, and under so much financial pressure, that he never left Delft, the city where he was born and where he died. One of Vermeer’s most stunning works is the “View of Delft.” It shows a lovely view — but with some dark clouds over it. The famous French writer Marcel Proust had this to say about the painting: “Ever since I saw the ‘View of Delft’…I have known that I had seen the most beautiful painting in the world.”

After Vermeer died, his paintings went largely forgotten for two centuries. Art critics rediscovered his work in the mid-1800s, praising his skill at inviting viewers into his pictures. Vermeer’s most famous work, “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” has entranced people ever since then. Its colors and shapes, and the lighting on her face, make it beautiful. But it is the girl’s mysterious expression and her piercing eyes that really draw people in. Entire novels and films have been made about this painting, trying to guess the story behind the picture.