Koza said that the painting has achieved something not only in terms of composition and color balance, but also with respect to its content. While the blush on the girl’s cheeks had previously made it clear that she was reading a love letter, the god of desire on the wall adds a message about Vermeer’s love. His cupid is depicted trampling on a mask, a symbol of deceit, to show that love triumphs over deceit and dishonesty.
Picture-in-a-picture also links the work to Vermeer’s later interior scenes, many of which depict figures from windows, which have been flooded with light. These often capture the moment in which the subject is lost in thought, alone, sometimes in the midst of household chores. The paintings or maps on the walls behind them enhance the viewer’s understanding of the characters’ inner lives.
The same cupid appears in three other Vermeer paintings, including “Young Woman Standing at a Virginal”, the Dresden Show and also on loan from the National Gallery in London. But in this work no mask is crushed under Cupid’s foot – rather he looks like a letter. In “Girl Interrupted at Her Music”, which the Frick Collection in New York has sent on loan to Europe for the first time for the Dresden show, Cupid hovers over the couple in the foreground, leaving no room for doubt about their views. . .