One of the reasons I love paintings is that they can trigger memories, sometimes even more effectively than photographs. Perhaps it is because the artist can bring to the composition his or her feeling about the scene being painted. Furthermore, light can communicate as much as composition. When I saw this painting by the Danish artist Carl Vilhelm Holsoe (1863-1935), it spoke to me immediately. At first, I thought it was because it stimulated the storyteller in me: the girl lives in a house where it is difficult to find enough light to read by. Thus, she has scooted her chair close to a window so that she can read her…