Quickwrite: Response to Picture

    In class we had to do a quickwrite on a picture that we saw and we had to describe what we thought was going on in the picture. In the picture the woman was holding a crumpled letter reading it with her window open next to a bed with fruits on it.
   I believe that the woman in the painting is a random lady, not a peasant, but a rich person, based on her clothing, who's husband left her. The letter probably explains the random fruit in a basket on the bed and her facial expression, which looks like a happy/frowning face. I think her husband left her and left the fruit because he felt bad. The dim lighting and how the letter is crumpled and almost falling out of her hands suggest that its a sad letter or a letter that made her sad. The painting looks very dark mainly because the bed covering was very dark and the curtain next to her was a dark green color and the light coming in from the window makes it look like its a gloomy day. Many people asociate gloomy days with sadness.
    Her clothes looked wrinkled and haggered so it looks like she's been wearing that for a while. The dress she has on looks like what they wore in England a long time ago. The fruits on her bed look like winter fruit so its winter which suggests a gloomy day, which equals sadness.