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Girl at an Open Window

Anthony Turner

2232-Art-1307-700: Art Appreciation

Dr. Debra J DeWitte

February 7, 2023
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Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window

For this project, I took into consideration Johannes Vermeer’s
artwork of the Girl Reading a Letter by an Open Window. I recreated this by depicting the girl
from Vermeer’s original work. I used a friend to achieve a two-dimensional picture of her
reading a letter while standing at an open window. I did this during the daytime to vivify the
picture and mimic the light shed on the woman and generally the room.
The aspects I enlivened that were from the original piece were three
i.e. primarily the lighting, then the posture of the woman facing the window, and lastly the made
emphasis on reading the letter. I believe these are some of the core things that should be focused
on to revive a similar touch as that from Vermeer’s original.
Light and Composition of the Original
In response to the lighting and composition of the original work, Light primarily being
the support structure of the original artwork, I had to consider its recreation first and this could
best be done during the daytime to optimally recreate lighting similar to that in the original. I
made sure to open the window to allow a sufficient amount of light into the room. The light was
shed onto the woman as she read the letter and onto a few items in the room. To reconstruct a
similar reading action, I used a lady facing the open window that was the light source as she
attentively read the letter at hand.