The main subject is a woman in a yellow dress, light is coming from the left-hand side of the painting from an open window, and there is a large map on the wall.

With x-ray photographs, art historians have determined that Vermeer had originally planned to paint the woman with a large white collar, which would have hidden much of her yellow dress.

This yellow bodice with braiding appears in many of Vermeer's other portraits; it is called a schort and was usually worn as an everyday, common dress.

Art historians have interpreted this to mean that the soldier has surprised the girl with an impromptu visit during her morning chores.

The pelts for these hats were imported from the New World, in this case probably from New Netherland, present-day eastern United States, which was at the time controlled by the Dutch West India Company.

Some art historians believe that Vermeer used a device called a camera obscura to help him create the perspective in his painting.

[6] Instead of using a mathematical formula or a vanishing point, Vermeer probably used this mechanical device to show him what the relative size of the people should be.

There is no historical evidence that Vermeer used such a device but the way he portrays perspective in many of his paintings, including Officer and Laughing Girl, suggests that he did.