Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid at least a degree of intimacy between the two. The painting visits many of Vermeer's usual painterly motifs; in particular his obsession with the inside/outside axis of interior spaces, and through his description of the tiled floor as well as the verticals of the dresses, window frame and back wall painting, his interest in geometry and abstract form. Vermeer had experimented with this painterly device earlier in his career, notably in his "View of Delft", "The Lacemaker" and "The Art of Painting". "Lady Writing" was stolen on 27 April 1974, along with a Goya, two Gainsboroughs and three Rubens from
The Courtyard of a House in Delft by Derek Mahon. The Courtyard of a House in Delft The Courtyard of a House in Delft is a 1658 oil painting by Pieter de Hooch, an example of Dutch Golden Age painting. The painting portrays domestic architecture typical of de Hooch's middle period, with building and courtyard dominating people. It is signed and dated to the left on the archway "P.D.H. / A 1658". The scene is divided into two pieces. To the left, an archway of brick and stone leads from a paved courtyard a passageway though a house, where a woman dressed in black and red stands