Cupid stealing visual attention - the restoration of Vermeer’s “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” altered viewing behavior

Abstract

A major restoration of Vermeer's “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” revealed a painting of cupid on the back wall that had been overpainted. The uncovering of this painting within a painting changed the composition of the artwork. We performed an eye tracking study on digital representations of the painting to investigate how the restoration altered the way people perceive this artwork. We show that the painting of cupid draws visual attention from the letter and that viewing behavior depends on knowledge of the other version of the painting. Moreover, lay people prefer the version without cupid.