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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.