# Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid > Johannes Vermeer - c. 1670-71 > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/johannes-vermeer/vermeer-lady-writing-a-letter-with-her-maid-beit/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-10-08 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Johannes Vermeer - **Date:** c. 1670-71 - **Medium:** Oil on canvas - **Dimensions:** 71.1 x 60.5 cm (National Gallery of Ireland); 72.2 x 59.7 cm in the 1995 Washington catalogue and the 2012 Metropolitan Museum Journal; 71.1 x 58.4 cm on Essential Vermeer - **Object type:** Painting - **Period:** Dutch, seventeenth century - **Current location:** National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (Room 38) - **Attribution:** accepted ## Summary A Vermeer of about 1670 that, on the gallery's and the 1995 catalogue's reading of a deed (Montias read it differently), his widow handed to a Delft baker in January 1676 against a bread debt of 617 guilders; a Rotterdam lot of 1730 matched to it by description and approximate size made 155 guilders; it made 62,000 francs in Paris in 1889; and it reached the collection of the diamond and gold magnate Alfred Beit about 1895. In 1952 it went to Russborough House in County Wicklow. It was stolen from there twice: in April 1974, in a raid that RTE (26 June 2001) says was by an IRA gang which included Rose Dugdale, who RTE (18 March 2024) says was jailed for nine years over the art theft; and in May 1986, in a raid that the Irish Times (30 September 2002) attributes to a gang headed by Martin Cahill, for which no court record was seen.After the 1974 raid, for which the sources report differing ransom demands, the picture was recovered in County Cork within about a fortnight and with the discovery, during its repair, of the red seal on the floor. The 1986 theft ended on 1 September 1993 in a car park at Antwerp airport, where it was recovered with the Belgian police in an operation the obituaries of Scotland Yard's Charles Hill describe. Sir Alfred and Lady Beit had given it to the National Gallery of Ireland in 1987 while it was still missing. It hangs in Room 38 in Dublin.This record follows the 1995 Washington catalogue and the gallery's own provenance and grades every link. It records what is not known: who held it after 1701, who bought it in 1730, where it was between 1798 and 1881 and in whose hands it was for seven years after 1986. It also keeps apart what scholars have argued about the Finding of Moses on the wall and the objects on the floor, none of which any document confirms. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **c. 1670-1675** Johannes Vermeer, Delft `[documented]` (creation) Painted in Delft, c. 1670 or c. 1670-71 by scholars' dating. Signed; attribution accepted. The Dublin gallery says that during his lifetime Vermeer did not sell it. - **1675-27 January 1676** Catharina Bolnes, widow of Vermeer, Delft `[disputed]` (inheritance) The widow's holding of this particular canvas rests on identifying it with the picture in the deed of 27 January 1676 (see next link). - **27 January 1676-1701** Hendrick van Buyten, master baker, Delft (1632-1701) `[disputed]` (pledge to creditor) Catharina Bolnes gave two Vermeers to Van Buyten as security for a debt of 617 guilders and 6 stuivers for bread (Montias doc. 361). The deed describes one as two persons, one of whom sits and writes a letter. Wheelock and Broos assume this is the Dublin picture. Montias, per Wheelock's footnote, took Van Buyten's large painting of 1701 to be Mistress and Maid. Wikipedia's summary says she 'sold and transferred' them and was 'paid' 617 guilders; the Washington catalogue says security. - **1701-before 1710** Unknown `[unknown]` (gap) Nothing opened records how the picture passed from Van Buyten's house, where a large Vermeer hung in the vestibule in 1701, to Josua van Belle. - **before 1710-1710** Josua van Belle (1637-1710), Rotterdam merchant trading with Spain, burgomaster 1705 `[documented]` (ownership) Identification probable: identified from the 1730 sale of his estate, whose lot 92 matches the picture by description and approximate dimensions (Wheelock and Broos). - **1710-1729** Ida Catharina van der Meyden, widow of Van Belle, Rotterdam `[documented]` (inheritance) Named in the 1995 provenance; no further detail. Identification probable (the chain rests on the 1730 lot matching by description and approximate size). - **6 September 1730** Van Belle sale, Rotterdam, lot 92 `[documented]` (auction) Identification probable (description and approximate dimensions). Lot 92, a sitting young lady writing a letter with a maid waiting, by Vander Meer, in Hoet's printed account. 155 guilders. Buyer not stated in sources opened. - **1730-1734** Unknown `[unknown]` (gap) The buyer at the 1730 sale and the route to Van Bleyswijck are not recorded in the sources opened. - **1734** Franco van Bleyswijck, Delft (buried Oude Kerk, 9 October 1734) `[documented]` (ownership) Identification probable (description). Appraised at 100 guilders. His estate went to two cousins and brothers-in-law, Hendrik and Johan Diederik van Slingelandt. - **1734-1761** Hendrik van Slingelandt (1702-1759), burgomaster of The Hague, and Maria Catharina van der Burch (1707-1761) `[documented]` (inheritance) Identification probable (description). Lot A of the Van Bleyswijck estate, listed as a damsel who writes a letter and a maid next to her by J. v. Meer, 100 guilders. After the couple's deaths the painter Aert Schouman priced 'A writing Woman by J. van der Meer' at 30 guilders. - **1761-1771 or 1775** Maria Catharina van Slingelandt (to 1771) or Agatha van Slingelandt (to 1775), The Hague `[disputed]` (inheritance) One of the two daughters, Agatha or Elisabeth Maria, inherited it; the catalogue lists the two names above and does not choose. - **1771 or 1775-1798** Possibly Barthout van Slingelandt, Dordrecht (1771-1798), or Willem Bentinck, The Hague (1775-1798) `[disputed]` (possible inheritance) The catalogue marks both with a question mark. - **1798-before 1881** Unknown `[unknown]` (gap) The catalogue says the later history is unrecorded until 1881. - **before 1881-1881** Viktor von Miller zu Aichholz (1845-1910), Vienna `[documented]` (ownership) Austrian industrialist, later banker, numismatist and collector. The catalogue does not know why he sold. Sold to Sedelmeyer; price not recorded. - **1881** Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris `[documented]` (dealer stock) Bought from Von Miller zu Aichholz and sold the same year for 60,000 francs to Secretan. Later illustrated as The Billet-doux (Sedelmeyer catalogue of 1898, no. 86). - **1881-1889** E. Secretan, Paris `[documented]` (purchase) Eugene Secretan, director of the Societe des Metaux, copper industrialist and collector; the collection stood as security and was sold after his firm failed in 1889. - **1889** Secretan sale, Paris, lot 140, to Boussod, Valadon and Co. `[documented]` (auction) 62,000 francs. Sale date 1 June (Washington catalogue, Dublin gallery) or 1 July 1889 (Essential Vermeer, Wikipedia); carried as disputed until the sale catalogue is checked. - **1889-before c. 1895** Marinoni collection, Paris, then F. Kleinberger, Paris (dealer) `[documented]` (dealer sale) Named in the provenance; dates and first name of Marinoni, and the price of any sale, not given. - **c. 1895-1906** Alfred Beit (1853-1906), London `[documented]` (purchase) Bought from Kleinberger (Hofstede de Groot 1907-1928, no. 37, cited by Wheelock). One of Beit's first acquisitions as a collector. Bode's 1904 catalogue of Beit's Park Lane collection is cited. - **1906-1930** Sir Otto Beit, 1st Baronet, London `[documented]` (inheritance) Beit left his fortune to his brother Otto. - **1930-1986** Sir Alfred Beit, 2nd Baronet; from 1952 at Russborough, Blessington, County Wicklow `[documented]` (inheritance) Inherited from his father. Stolen from Russborough on 26 April 1974 (27 April in some sources) in a raid reported as IRA-led and recovered in County Cork in early May 1974. Conservation by Andrew O'Connor, 1974. - **21 May 1986** Theft from Russborough House `[documented]` (theft) Date from the 1995 catalogue (Essential Vermeer says 1 May). The Irish Times and RTE attribute the raid to a gang headed by Martin Cahill; no court record was seen. - **1986-1 September 1993** Unknown `[unknown]` (gap) Custody in these years is not documented in the sources opened. - **1 September 1993** Recovered in Antwerp `[documented]` (recovery) Recovered in a car-park operation at Antwerp airport involving the Scotland Yard detective Charles Hill and the Belgian police, as the obituaries of Hill report. The Dublin gallery's provenance records the recovery in 1993. - **1987-present** National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (NGI.4535) `[documented]` (gift) Credit line: presented, Sir Alfred and Lady Beit, 1987 (Beit Collection). The Washington catalogue and Essential Vermeer say bequeathed. The gift was made while the painting was missing; it was recovered in 1993. On display in Room 38. ## Auction results Hammer and buyer's premium are stated separately. Where a source conflates them this record says so. - **1730-09-06** Van Belle estate sale, Rotterdam (auction house not named in the sources opened), - Estimate: None recorded - Hammer: 155 guilders (the recorded price; no commission or premium is separated in the sources) - With premium: Not recorded - Lot 92, 'a sitting young lady writing a letter, next to which a maid stands waiting, by Vander Meer' (Hoet). Identified by description and approximate dimensions. Buyer not recorded in the sources opened. - **1889-06-01 or 1889-07-01 (sources differ)** Galerie Sedelmeyer, Paris (Secretan sale), - Estimate: None recorded - Hammer: 62,000 francs (as recorded by the Washington catalogue) - With premium: Not separated in the sources opened - Lot 140, to Boussod, Valadon and Co. The 1881 price of 60,000 francs, from Sedelmeyer to Secretan, was a dealer sale, not an auction. The picture has not been sold at auction since 1889. In the same sale Millet's Angelus was bid to 553,000 francs (Wikipedia). ## Open questions - Is the 'two personages, one of whom sits and writes a letter' of Catharina Bolnes's deed of 27 January 1676 this picture, as Wheelock and Broos assume, or the Frick's Mistress and Maid, as Montias's reading implies? No mark or measurement settles it. - Who owned the picture between Van Buyten's death in 1701 and Josua van Belle's ownership before 1710, and who bought lot 92 at the Van Belle sale of 6 September 1730? - Which heir held it after 1761 (Maria Catharina or Agatha van Slingelandt, Barthout van Slingelandt or Willem Bentinck), and where was it between 1798 and 1881, when Viktor von Miller zu Aichholz sold it to Sedelmeyer? - Was the Secretan sale on 1 June or 1 July 1889? The Dublin gallery and the 1995 catalogue say June; Essential Vermeer and Wikipedia say July. The sale catalogue would settle it; Wikipedia's Secretan article lists that catalogue as July 1889. - What was the object on the floor: a received letter (Wheelock), a letter with a crumpled wrapper (Vergara), or a letter-writing manual (Blankert)? No document says, and the picture alone cannot. - Who covered the red seal and the wax stick, and when? The 1995 catalogue credits Andrew O'Connor's 1974 treatment with revealing them; Lisa Vergara says an earlier owner overpainted them. Pre-1974 reproductions would show whether they were ever visible. - Where did the Finding of Moses on the wall come from, and is it the picture Albert Blankert, in 1977, agreed to give to Sir Peter Lely? The Astronomer shows the same wall picture and no source names a specific canvas. - What route did the Vermeer take between 21 May 1986 and 1 September 1993, and who held it? The accounts name a Belgian car park and a gangster; none of the sources I could open gives the chain of hands. - What were the terms of the 1987 gift: its valuation, any Irish tax treatment and any minister's or Government's part in accepting it? No source opened sets them out. The Seanad speaker's 50 to 100 million gives no currency. - Is there published pigment analysis, a reflectogram or an X-radiograph of this picture, beyond the thread count and weave map in the 1995 catalogue and the 2012 article? The Washington technical description mentions none, and I found no IIIF manifest. - Which price did Alfred Beit pay Kleinberger around 1895, and what did Kleinberger pay the Marinoni collection? The catalogue records the sequence and no sum. ## Sources - [1] National Gallery of Ireland online collection, 'Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid', NGI.4535: title, size, signature, credit line, full provenance, exhibition history. Primary (institution). - [2] National Gallery of Ireland, collection highlight page for the painting: size 71.1 x 60.5 cm, number NGI.4535, on display in Room 38. Undated page. - [3] Ben Broos and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Johannes Vermeer, exhibition catalogue (Washington and The Hague, 1995), entry 19 and Wheelock/Blankert/Wadum essays. Primary scholarly source; open PDF from the National Gallery of Art. - [4] Walter Liedtke, C. Richard Johnson Jr. and Don H. Johnson, 'Canvas Matches in Vermeer: A Case Study in the Computer Analysis of Fabric Supports', Metropolitan Museum Journal 47 (2012). - [5] Essential Vermeer, 'Critical Assessments: Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid', with two excerpts from the Love Letters catalogue (2003), one printed under Peter Sutton's name (its text refers to 'the Sutton essay', so the author is not certain) and one by Lisa Vergara. Secondary compilation of primary scholarship. - [6] Essential Vermeer, interactive catalogue page for the painting: technical report, provenance, exhibitions, dating by scholar. Secondary; its provenance repeats the 1995 catalogue but says 'bequeathed' and dates the Secretan sale 1 July 1889, where the Dublin record says 1 June. - [7] Essential Vermeer, 'Vermeer Thefts: 1974 - Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid'. Secondary; unsourced in places. - [8] Essential Vermeer, 'Vermeer Thefts: 1986 - Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid'. Secondary; unsourced in places; its date of 1 May 1986 conflicts with the 1995 catalogue. - [9] Essential Vermeer, 'The Life and Art of Johannes Vermeer, part three': the Monconys passage of 1663 and the baker Van Buyten, with Montias's figures. Secondary. - [10] Wikipedia, 'Hendrick van Buyten', summarising Montias, Vermeer and his Milieu (1989). Tertiary; replace with Montias directly. - [11] RTE News, 'Russborough House has history of art thefts', 26 June 2001. - [12] The Irish Times, 'Previous raids on Russborough', 30 September 2002. - [13] Time, 'Renegade Debutante', 20 May 1974 (Wayback Machine copy of the Time archive page). - [14] Deirdre McQuillan, 'Adventures of a Mobile Masterpiece', Insight on the News 11:44 (20 November 1995); Questia preview via the Wayback Machine, the opening paragraphs only. - [15] Jack McCarron, 'Escape to West Cork was bad move for suspect in art heist', The Southern Star, on Anthony M. Amore, The Woman Who Stole Vermeer (2022). Undated page; secondary summary of a book. - [16] Wikipedia, 'Rose Dugdale': the 1974 raid, the ransom, the sentence, her release and death. Tertiary; replace with contemporary court and press reports. - [17] RTE News, report on the death of Rose Dugdale, 18 March 2024. - [18] Richard Sandomir, 'Charles Hill, Detective Who Found The Scream, Dies at 73', The New York Times, 10 March 2021 (a copy of the article hosted as a PDF by a third party; the publisher's page was not opened). - [19] Harrison Smith, 'Charles Hill, who tracked down stolen masterpieces like The Scream, dies at 73', The Washington Post, 11 March 2021 (third-party PDF copy). - [20] 'Charles Hill', obituary, The Times (London), 2 March 2021 (third-party PDF copy). - [21] Wikipedia, 'Martin Cahill'. Tertiary. - [22] Wikipedia, 'Russborough House', for the thefts of 1974, 1986, 2001 and 2002 and the Beit Foundation. Tertiary. - [23] Wikipedia, 'Sir Alfred Beit, 2nd Baronet': career, marriage, the 1987 gift and honorary citizenship. Tertiary; replace with an obituary or the Beit Foundation. - [24] Wikipedia, 'Alfred Beit' (1853-1906). Tertiary; replace with Albrecht, Alfred Beit: The Hamburg Diamond King (2012). - [25] Seanad Eireann debate, 20 January 1988, Appropriation Act 1987 motion, speech by Mrs Bulbulia on the National Gallery and the Beit gift (Wayback Machine copy of historical-debates.oireachtas.ie). - [26] National Gallery of Ireland, 'Vermeer Visits', 11 May to 18 August 2024. - [27] National Gallery of Ireland, press release announcing the 2024 exhibition programme. - [28] National Gallery of Ireland, 'Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry', 17 June to 17 September 2017. - [29] Antiques and Art Ireland, 'Vermeers reunited at the National Gallery of Ireland', 8 May 2024. - [30] Deirdre McQuillan, 'Hidden treasure', The Irish Times, 28 May 2011. - [31] Wikipedia, 'Eugene Secretan': the copper collapse of 1889 and the Secretan sale of 1 July 1889. Tertiary; replace with the sale catalogue and a Paris press report. - [32] Wikipedia, 'Jacob Dissius': the Van Ruijven inheritance and the sale of 16 May 1696. Tertiary; replace with Montias. - [33] Wikipedia, 'Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid'. Tertiary; used only to report where it differs from other sources. - [34] Wikipedia, 'Johannes Vermeer': baptism, marriage, guild, death, inventory, the Rijksmuseum exhibition of 2023. Tertiary. - [35] Michael Carlson, review of Matthew Hart, The Irish Game (2004), 'The General meets the Girl with the Pearl Earring', Irresistible Targets blog, 6 September 2008. Review of a book I could not open; weakest source in the record. - [36] National Gallery of Ireland, archived paintings page (Wayback Machine, 10 December 2006), on the Dutch collection and the Beit gift. - [37] Wikimedia Commons file page, 'Woman writing a letter, with her maid, by Johannes Vermeer.jpg' (public domain; source named as the gallery's online collection). - [38] Wikimedia Commons file page, 'DublinVermeer.jpg' (public domain; source unstated). --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. If you quote this record, quote the provenance grades with it.