The cupid changed the story completely. She was having an affair or waiting for the sailor to return, and completely lost her innocence. She's also looking preg

The cupid changed the story completely. She was having an affair or waiting for the sailor to return, and completely lost her innocence. She's also looking pregnant. If it was an order, and it surely was, the father and family must have been furious and either ordered Vermeer or someone else to overpaint the cupid. And the girl got her innocence back. Could also happened a couple of years later when the lover didn't come back or married someone else. Note that dutch girls at those times, and esp. those painted by Vermeer had their loved ones on sea in the east-indies for business. They all were reading letters, and had a map on the wall.