Created by Jacqui Palumbo, CNN

For all-around three generations, the lady reading through a letter in the dimly-lit solitude of a Johannes Vermeer painting gave no indication of what the concept contained.

Going through an open window, her figure gently curved as she scanned the notice in her palms, her entire body appeared slight towards the vacant wall driving her. But previous week, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, Germany, wherever she’s been housed for most of her long lifestyle, has finally unveiled an amorous secret, hidden prolonged back beneath levels of paint.

Ahead of its approaching exhibit about the celebrated Dutch painter, the museum has produced an graphic of a drastically improved “Woman Looking at a Letter at an Open up Window,” which the Dutch artist painted between 1657 and 1659. Following a painstaking 4-12 months-extended restoration, the empty wall now demonstrates a monumental painting of Cupid, uncovered by X-ray in 1979, but now unveiled for the very first time.

The unveiling of Cupid, the Roman god of adore who is often represented as a winged boy, offers the girl’s letter new connotations of affection, longing and desire. The painting will go on view at the Gemäldegalerie from September 10 alongside with nine of Vermeer’s other significant is effective and 50 paintings by his Dutch peers.

When the concealed Cupid was 1st located about 4 decades in the past, it was believed the Delft-born artist had himself painted around it. X-rays of other famous artworks have frequently discovered early drafts, and Vermeer was acknowledged to rework his compositions, believing that the harmony of his paintings reflected the harmony of God, in accordance to Stephan Koja, artwork historian and director of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.

“It was prevalent sense to consider that Vermeer had overpainted this aspect of his composition due to the fact he experienced done this many situations,” Koja said in a video clip interview. “He truly was a perfectionist making an attempt to get the most calibrated and most convincing composition.”

The restoration approach was painstakingly sluggish. Conservators meticulously eradicated a area of overpaint more than the course of two and a 50 % a long time. Credit history: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

But when conservators commenced cleansing the painting in 2017, they discovered proof suggesting otherwise. Varnish on the stretch of vacant wall guiding the youthful female was a various coloration, and the regularity of the paint was diverse far too, Koja mentioned. When scientists investigated samples in an archaeometry laboratory, they observed dust hiding in concerning levels of paint, signaling that a person else experienced included the overpaint substantially later.

“We understood that the filth meant that the portray was completed it was exposed to the mild and to the conditions of a home for quite a few many years,” Koja said. Now, the crew included believe that it was painted above sometime in the early 18th century. But as to who did it, they can only guess.

Not the only mystery

The hidden Cupid is significantly from the only secret of the Baroque artist’s lifetime. The painter, like the enigmatic Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, had a preciously smaller output, with only about 34 canvases considered to have survived to currently. He’s best recognised for his fragile inside scenes that includes solitary figures bathed in window light, hinting at narratives still left intentionally vague.

“(With) the solitary person lost in her thoughts, you will find a certain mystery, so we can relate to the thoughts, emotions of the persons we see,” Koja mentioned. “In a way, none of his contemporaries were in a position to do that.”

Art historians aren't sure where Vermeer learned to paint, who he learned from, if he had any students of his own or who his subjects were. It is thought that the work above, an alllegory of painting, is a self-portrait with his daughter.

Artwork historians aren’t certain where by Vermeer uncovered to paint, who he learned from, if he experienced any learners of his personal or who his subjects were. It is thought that the perform above, an alllegory of portray, is a self-portrait with his daughter. Credit score: Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna

The identities of Vermeer’s topics are an enigma, far too, like the lady in his most well known function, “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Art historians are also still debating the approaches he utilized to build his optical illusions, particularly the concern of regardless of whether he used a “camera obscura” — a darkish space with a pinhole that tasks a photographic impression — to produce his depth of field. It’s not even identified wherever Vermeer uncovered to paint or who he uncovered from — a lineage that is normally nicely-documented for artwork history’s masters.

Who painted over Cupid in “Girl Reading through a Letter at the Open up Window,” or why they did, may possibly in no way be solved. The painting arrived from a French assortment in the early 18th century, when Vermeer wasn’t properly known — he experienced died in deep debt in 1675. Koja recommended that the painting may have been modified to much more carefully resemble the function of Rembrandt, perhaps by the collection’s Flemish steward, who was also an artist.

"Woman in Blue Reading a Letter" illustrates many of the same themes: a solitary figure reading a letter in a familiar domestic space, lit by the light of a window to the left.

“Woman in Blue Reading through a Letter” illustrates lots of of the identical themes: a solitary determine studying a letter in a familiar domestic house, lit by the gentle of a window to the remaining. Credit score: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

Altering somebody else’s painting “was fairly regular at the time,” Koja stated. “Paintings have been modified in accordance to style… At present, we assume it really is fully inconceivable how you could contact a Vermeer but some others (in) centuries ahead of us were not that hesitant.”

A number of other Vermeer paintings were being inexplicably altered, as well, Koja stated, from an whole blue sky painted into his early function “Diana and her Companions” to a modified photo body in “Woman Holding a Harmony.” (Both paintings have because been restored to their first compositions.)

A familiar encounter

To get well the Cupid, conservators at Dresden Point out Art Collections determined not to take out the original 17th-century varnish, but in its place meticulously chipped absent at levels of paint with a health-related scalpel below a microscope with 120x magnification, in accordance to Koja. The procedure took two and a 50 % years, with only a couple square millimeters covered just about every day.

The Cupid they disclosed was a acquainted one. Standing upright, his still left arm raised and his right arm keeping a bow, the blond, chubby cherub has appeared in other Vermeer performs. The god of enjoy performs a supporting position in “Female Interrupted at Her Music,” housed by the Frick Assortment in New York, as well as in “Youthful Female Standing at a Virginal,” which the Dresden museum has borrowed from the Countrywide Gallery in London for its new show.

The same cupid has appeared in other works. According to art historian Stephan Koja, Vermeer may have owned the painting it was based on.

The very same cupid has appeared in other will work. According to artwork historian Stephan Koja, Vermeer may well have owned the portray it was based mostly on. Credit: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

Koja explained it is suspected that the newly found out Cupid was based mostly on a authentic portray in the artist’s possession. An inventory of his widow’s belongings from 1676 references “a Cupid,” in accordance to The Artwork Newspaper.

His look alters the that means of one particular of Vermeer’s most pivotal performs — a single that represented a key change in the artist’s profession. Vermeer’s earliest paintings were being not established in present-day center-class homes, but were grand performs depicting religious and mythological subjects, from Jesus Christ to the goddess Diana. By the late 1650s, on the other hand, he experienced begun turning his eye to modern subjects — what grew to become recognised as “style paintings” of daily existence that are the hallmark of the Dutch Golden Age.

“‘Girl Studying a Letter By the Window’ is truly the critical piece of his transformation from a history painter to the painter of modern day everyday living — to the Vermeer we know now,” Koja reported.

Quickly after completing the painting, the artist embarked on his most well known topics and motifs: young girls (and the occasional man) dropped in considered in the quietude of rooms cast with mid-day light. The viewer’s existence can be sensed, much too, as we peer in on figures participating in music, examining mysterious letters or thinking about objects heavy with philosophical indicating. Vermeer’s subjects are occasionally interrupted by our presence, turning to gaze at our intrusion.

“What is actually so excellent about Vermeer is that he leaves items open up, and leaves them to our creativity,” Koja explained. “And it is really (like) every single type of art — be it songs, theater or film. I feel you like most of the kinds that have a certain mystery to them… like motion picture administrators who give you clues and then enable you end the strategy. This is anything which Vermeer mastered.”

Motion caption: The restoration of “Female Reading through a Letter at an Open up Window.” Photos courtesy of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister.

By Harmony