Love Letters

Just as email now dominates written communication, in the 17th century the writing of personal letters became widespread and fashionable. Although letters had long existed, the notion that they could convey private feelings and emotions suddenly captured the popular imagination and transformed personal communication. During this period, not only was Holland the most literate country in Europe and a leading publishing centre, it was also the focus of an explosion of epistolary activity. Seventeenth-century Dutch genre painters became the first to depict anonymous people writing, reading, dispatching and receiving letters. Leading painters like Gerard ter Borch, Gabriel Metsu, Frans van Mieris, Pieter de Hooch and the renowned Johannes Vermeer made the letter a central feature of their scenes of everyday life, defining the subject and creating ravishingly memorable images that would influence generations of painters to come.
This catalogue accompanies an exhibition of these paintings appearing at the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin and the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, tracing the origins of the theme in Holland about 1630 to its full flowering in the third quarter of the century and later manifestations. The book relates the depiction of letter themes to the culture, literature and social history of the Netherlands.