The Letter Writer

In a candlelit interior, a young man in a fur-trimmed robe pauses at his writing desk, quill in hand, before a letter half-finished. Frans van Mieris the Elder was the most celebrated of the Leiden fijnschilders, whose jewel-like precision made small domestic scenes irresistible to collectors — every fold of velvet, glint of candle flame and curl of paper rendered with almost magical fineness.