The painting depicts a young woman wearing an ermine-trimmed jacket and enormous pearl earrings as she eagerly looks out a window, presumably expecting a male visitor.

The tuning of a lute was recognized by contemporary viewers as a symbol of the virtue of temperance.

But the painting has more muted tones, reflecting a shift in that direction by Vermeer in the mid- to late 1660s.

At this time, Vermeer began using shadows and soft contours to further evoke an atmosphere of intimacy.

"The impression of spatial recession and atmosphere is somewhat diminished by darkening with age of the objects in the foreground and by abrasion of the paint surface, mostly in the same area," according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art web page.