Britta spoke this week on ‘the explosion of epistolary activity in the 17th Century’; and its appearance in Dutch painting as ‘a new and unique sub-genre’. People, most often anonymous women, are depicted receiving, reading, writing and dispatching letters. They are well-dressed in prosperous settings, often attended by a servant. The traditional art historical assumption has been that these are about love letters. Recent research into letters captured from Dutch vessels in the 17th Century suggest that this may not be the case. Many of those are pleas from home to sailors, soldiers and merchants abroad for support in what emerges as a not so ‘Golden Age’ in Dutch history. Is this what the paintings are about?
None of the women in Take a Seat are shown reading letters. But that’s to focus only on the medium. Eleven of them are looking at their mobile phones where they may read 21st century epistles.
