The Frick unites Vermeer's Love Letters

The unprecedented installation Vermeer’s Love Letters unites the Frick’s iconic Mistress and Maid with two special loans: The Love Letter from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and Woman Writing a Letter with Her Maid from the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin. Displayed together in a single gallery for the first time, this trio of works will offer visitors the opportunity to consider Vermeer’s exploration of the theme of letter writing and epistolary exchange in the context of the seventeenth-century domestic settings for which the artist is renowned. Beginning June 23, the Frick will also welcome visitors on Mondays, extending its public days from five to six weekly, Wednesday through Monday.

Stated Axel Rüger, the Frick’s Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director, “This is the first exhibition in New York City since 2001 dedicated to works by Vermeer, one of the most famous artists in the world. We are excited to present this unprecedented examination of a fascinating aspect of the artist’s oeuvre in our new gallery space, designed by Selldorf Architects. We thank guest curator Dr. Robert Fucci, a distinguished scholar of seventeenth-century Dutch art from the University of Amsterdam, for his work on the show and the accompanying catalogue. For his role in securing exceptional support and much more, all due credit and heartfelt thanks go to my esteemed predecessor, Ian Wardropper, along with Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, and Aimee Ng, John Updike Curator, for their essential contributions.”

Added Salomon, “On the heels of the museum’s public reopening on April 17, it is fitting that we are debuting our new special exhibition galleries with a closer look at the work of Vermeer, one of the most popular artists in our collection. His Mistress and Maid is the final masterpiece that museum founder Henry Clay Frick acquired before his death, making this inaugural show a particularly appropriate tribute to his legacy as a collector.”

In taking up the motif of the exchange of letters, Vermeer and his contemporaries explored and imagined the inner lives and emotions of their painted subjects, often creating enigmatic narrative scenes. Of about three dozen surviving works by Vermeer, six are variations on this theme. The three works united in the exhibition share a particular focus on women in the domestic sphere: ladies and their maidservants. The complex relationships, tensions, and trust between these two social classes—domestic servants and their employers—is a topic linked to and exemplified by the writing, reading, and delivery of letters. Fucci examines these ideas in the literary and artistic contexts of Vermeer’s time. The display of the three works brought together in Vermeer’s Love Letters captures the artist’s ability to portray themes of everyday life with nuance, variety, and drama.