The Story
The Love Letter by Jacob Ochtervelt. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Mendelsohn, 1980
Created in 1673 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the love & romance tradition. Jacob Ochtervelt worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on canvas, measuring 36 x 25 in. (91.4 x 63.5 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Jacob Ochtervelt builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
