We’re halfway through National Letter Writing Month, and what better way to mark our favorite month than to celebrate the art of letter writing with…art! Writing letters, waiting for letters, sending letters, reading letters, and seeing how letters travel through the mail…letter writing has been inspiring artists for centuries.
Click through the gallery of paintings, dating from the 1600s to the 2000s, and get inspired to write.
Man Writing a Letter, Gabriël Metsu, 1664 National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Encre L. Marquet, Eugene Grasset, 1892 Detroit Institute of Arts
The Hunting Horn, Daphne Jameson b. 1942 Falmouth Art Gallery
The Letter Writer, Philippe Mercier b. 1689 Marble Hill House, London
Neaera Reading a Letter from Catullus, Henry John Hudson, 1894 Bradford Museums and Galleries
Letter/Letter Writing, Lisa Milroy, 2003 Imperial College Healthcare Charity Art Collection
Sorting Office, Andrew Morton, 1986 The British Postal Museum
Write Your Address Clearly, James Fitton, 1958 The British Postal Museum
Her Love Letter, Muriel Dawson b. 1907
Letter Home, Sapper Wilson, 1940
The Letter, Charles Sprague Pearce, 1875
Unable to Wait, Telemaco Signorini, 1867 Collezione Fondazione Cariplo
The Letter, Giovanni Boldinni, 1873
Shakuntala writing a love letter on a lotus leaf, Raja Ravi Varma, 1880-85 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
Lady Writing a Letter, Albert Edelfelt, 1887
Woman Writing a Letter, Kikukawa Eizan, 1810-15 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Young Woman Writing a Letter, Richard Parkes Bonington, 1820-28 Rhode Island School of Design Museum
The Letter, Pierre Bonnard, 1906 National Gallery of Art, Chester Dale Collection
Katie’s Letter, Haynes King, 1875 Atkinson Art Gallery Collection
Young Woman Writing a Letter, Federico Zandomeneghi, 1874 Private collection
Woman Writing a Letter, Gerard Terborch II, 1655 Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery, Hague
The Love Letter, Jean Honoré Fragonard, 1770-1773 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Woman Writing a Letter with her Maid, Johannes Vermeer, 1670 National Gallery of Ireland
Self Portrait with Letter, Gwen John, 1903
The Letter, Paul-César Helleu, 1880
– Jaimie W.