Elegant Lady Writing at Her Desk

A finely dressed lady, wearing a fur-trimmed jacket and jeweled earrings, has paused from writing a letter in Gabriel Metsu’s intriguing painting. A slight seductive smile crosses the woman’s face as she looks toward the viewer, the quill still poised in her right hand as she holds the edge of the paper with her left. Metsu enhanced the momentary character of the scene by including the inquisitive brown and white dog, which eagerly peers up at its owner. Although the content of the woman’s letter is unknown, it is likely amorous in nature, reflecting the popular subject of love letters in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic.

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