You can find a reading sample at "https: verlag.sandstein.de reader 98-814_Vermeer-Rest-engl"
Johannes Vermeer's painting Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window is familiar to a worldwide
audience and is admired and revered. However the restoration carried out between 2017 and 2021
has significantly changed its appearance. The spectacular removal of a later overpainting in
the background of the painting brought to light the depiction of a god of love which must now
be linked to the figure of the letter-reading girl again as a picture within a picture. This
suggests a new interpretation of the painting that had been concealed for centuries: the god of
love functions as a meaningful commentary on the scene which the viewer now clearly perceives
as an amorous situation. In the painting the composition light and color mood and aura have
changed fundamentally. This publication contains the results of research and investigations
that examine the restored painting from the perspective of the team of European and American
institutions from the fields of restoration natural sciences art history mathematics and IT
that worked together on a four-year project. It is intended to contribute to an even more
comprehensive description of Vermeer's painting to clarify the process of its creation and to
make the Dresden decision to accept the later overpainting transparent and comprehensible to
experts and the public.
