The Love Letter

THE LOVE LETTER

1861

By: Rebecca Solomon

This is a painting of a women standing up wearing victorian looking clothes in front of a mirror. There is a man who has opened the door to the room she is in and interrupts her while reading a love letter. Her gaze is towards the man who has opened the door.

In my opinion there are a couple of ways of interpreting this artwork. First off, the way her gaze is tilted and looking at the guy coming in the door it could mean that she is trying to hide in a room with the door closed trying to read a love note from another man and possibly the man coming in the door is her husband. Their expressions give off a sense of alertness or may their stunned. Definetely interrupted. The second interpretation is that the man at the door could possibly be her lover or an admirer professing his love for her. Either way i really liked this picture because it almost comes off as a hidden love almost like romeo juliet and he is professing love to her and he is coming to see what she thinks of the letter he wrote. Or i thought maybe the man could be her husband and she is finding a letter from him to his mistress or the mistress to her husband. Maybe she is surprised to learn of his infedility. Also obviously this women is educated and of higher class.