National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: The Suitor's Visit
  • Overview
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

Dutch 17th–century artists drew their subject matter from all elements of society. The artist who best captured the refinement of the wealthy bourgeoisie in the second half of the century was Gerard ter Borch. In this example, an elegant gentleman bows gracefully as he enters the room. A young woman wearing a beautiful satin dress with an orange–red jacket stands to greet him while another woman sits at a table playing a theorbo, a musical instrument. Behind this group a man warms his hands at a fireplace. The costumes, instruments, imposing mantelpiece, and gilded wallpaper all attest to the high social status of the figures.

Ter Borch's exquisite painting technique, which consisted of delicate touches with the brush and the use of thin glazes to suggest transparencies, allowed him to create realistic textural effects, whether of lace, satin, or the pile of a wool tablecloth. His main focus was the psychological interaction of the two protagonists, the suitor and the standing woman. These two figures are clearly communicating through their glances and gestures. Seen in the context of the musical instruments and dog, both of which have associations of love, their meeting has strong sexual overtones.

Inscription

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Marks and Labels

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Provenance

Charles-Auguste-Louis-Joseph, duc de Morny [1811-1865], Paris; (his estate sale, at the Palais de la Présidence du Corps Législatif, Paris, 31 May-12 June 1865, no. 82); Josè Salamanca y Mayol [Marquès de Salamanca, d. 1866], Madrid; (sale, at his residence by Charles Pillet, Paris, 3-6 June 1867, no. 126); Baron Adolphe de Rothschild [1823-1900], Paris; by inheritance to his first cousin once-removed, Baron Maurice de Rothschild [1881-1957], Paris; (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold July 1922 to Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1939
Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 369.
2004
Gerard ter Borch, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Detroit Institute of Arts, 2004-2005, no. 30, repro.
2005
Sparkling Satin - The Best of Gerard ter Borch, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2005, no catalogue.

Bibliography

1863
Lagrange, Léon. "La Galerie de M. Le Duc De Morny." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 14 (April 1863): 289-306, repro.
1937
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 82.
1941
Duveen 1941, fig. 208.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 191.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 240, repro. 32.
1944
Plietzsch, Eduard. Gerard ter Borch. Vienna, 1944.
1948
Gudlaugsson, Sturla J. "De datering van de schilderijen van Gerard Ter Borch." Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 2 (1948-1949): 235-267.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 91, repro.
1949
L. J. Roggeveen. "De National Gallery of Art te Washington." Phoenix 4, no. 12 (December 1949): 339, repro.
1952
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 106, color repro.
1960
Baird, Thomas P. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Seven in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 32, color repro.
1960
Gudlaugsson, Sturla J. Geraert ter Borch. 2 vols. The Hague, 1959-1960: 1(1959):116-119, repro. 119, 296; 2(1960):147-148, no. 139.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 25.
1962
Grinten, Evert F. van der. "Le cachalot et le mannequin: deux facettes de la réalité dans l’art hollandais du seizième et du dix-septième siècles." Nederlands kunsthistorisch jaarboek 13 (1962): 168-172, fig. 20, 21.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 190, repro.
1965
Haverkamp-Begemann, Egbert. "Terborch's Lady at Her Toilet." Art News (December 1965): 38-41, 62-63, fig. 8.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 126.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:250, color repro.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture: Illustrations (Companion to the Summary Catalogue, 1965). Washington, 1968: 113, no. 58, repro.
1974
Langemeyer, G., et al. Gerard ter Borch: Zwolle 1617-Deventer 1681. Exh. cat. Mauritshuis, The Hague; Landesmuseum, Münster. The Hague, 1974: 37.
1974
Robinson, Franklin W. Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667): A Study of His Place in Dutch Genre Painting of the Golden Age. New York, 1974: 53-54.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 336, repro.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 284, color repro.
1979
Watson, Ross. National Gallery of Art. London, 1979: 81, pl. 67, color repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 284, no. 371, color repro.
1984
Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1984: 30-31, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 387, repro.
1987
Smith, David R. "Irony and Civility: Notes on the Convergence of Genre and Portraiture in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting." Art Bulletin 69 (September 1987): 423-424, repro.
1991
Roodenburg, Herman. "The 'hand of friendship': shaking hands and other gestures in the Dutch Republic." In A Cultural History of Gesture, Jan Bremmer and Herman Roodenburg, eds. Ithaca, 1991: 152-189, fig. 7.1.
1991
Ydema, Onno. Carpets and Their Datings in Netherlandish Paintings, 1540-1700. Zutphen, 1991: 188, no. 860.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 133, repro.
1993
Kettering, Alison McNeil. "Ter Borch's Ladies in Satin." Art History 16 (March 1993): 97, repro.
1995
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. New York, 1995: 795, fig. 19-55, repro. (Rev. ed. 1999: 794-795, fig. 19-52, repro.)
1995
Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 26-28, color repro. 29.
1998
Witthoft, Brucia. "Marriage/Bethrothal." In Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art, edited by Helene E. Roberts. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 2:561.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 203, no. 161, color repro.
2005
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. Rev. 2nd ed., combined volume. Upper Saddle River, 2005: 777, color fig. 19-65, title page, cover.
2010
Gustin Gomez, Clémentine. L’avènement du plaisir dans la peinture française, de Le Brun à Watteau. Dijon, 2011: 276, color repro.

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