Gerard ter Borch

November 7, 2004 – January 30, 2005
West Building, Main Floor Galleries 74, 75, 76

Gerard ter Borch

A Lady at Her Toilet, c. 1660, oil on canvas, 30 x 23 1/2 in., The Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Eleanor Clay Ford Fund, General Membership Fund, Endowment Income Fund and Special Activities Fund

Gerard ter Borch

Procession with Flagellants, c. 1636/1640, oil on panel, 16 5/16 x 28 1/8 in., Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Gerard ter Borch

Caspar van Kinschot, 1646/1647, oil on copper, 4 5/6 x 3 1/8 in., Private collection, on long-term loan to the Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis, The Hague

Gerard ter Borch

The Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, 15 May 1648, 1648, oil on copper, 17 7/8 x 23 1/16 in., The National Gallery, London

Gerard ter Borch

A Young Woman at Her Toilet with a Maid, c. 1650/1651, oil on wood, 18 3/4 x 13 5/8 in., Lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917

Gerard ter Borch

The Grinder’s Family, c. 1653, oil on canvas, 28 15/16 x 23 15/16 in., Staatliche Museen Zu Berlin-Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie

Gerard ter Borch

A Maid Milking a Cow in a Barn, c. 1653/1654, oil on panel, 18 11/16 x 19 3/4 in., The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Gerard ter Borch

Gallant Conversation (known as Paternal Admonition), c. 1654, oil on canvas, 27 15/16 x 28 3/4 in., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Two men and two women, all with pale skin, and a white and brown dog occupy a room in this vertical painting. One man and woman seem close to us and the other two are slightly behind them to our right. From left to right, a man with long dark hair and a mustache enters the room through an open door. He wears a voluminous, velvety black jacket that has a wide white collar and flat, plate-like starched white cuffs. He leans forward in a bow, one foot stretched in front of him and gazing towards the woman to our right. His hands are spread wide. His left forefinger and thumb making an O and he holds a wide-brimmed hat in his right hand, closer to us, so we see into the crown. At the center of the composition, the woman wears a dress with a coral pink bodice and a cream-colored satin skirt that has a gold band down the front and around the hem. She faces and looks towards the man, her cheeks flushed. Her eyebrows seem slightly raised over dark eyes, and she has a straight nose and the hint of a double chin. Her blond hair is pulled back under what could be a lace covering, and curls frame her face. A black ribbon is tied into a bow at her neck. The tawny brown and white dog stands about knee-height, between the man and woman. To our right, a young woman with similar features sits opposite us at a table playing a lute. She wears a royal blue dress and looks down at her instrument. One elbow is propped on the patterned rug that covers the table. An instrument, perhaps a cello, lies on the table and a wooden chair with a green upholstered seat has been pulled up to our side of the table. Almost lost in the shadows at the back of the room between the two women, a man with a goatee and wearing a brown jacket and trousers stands with his body angled to our right as he looks over his shoulder towards the couple at the door. He stands in front of a fireplace with an opening so large that the mantle supported by columns tall columns is above his head.

Gerard ter Borch

The Suitor's Visit, c. 1658, oil on canvas, 31 1/2 x 29 1/2 in., Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.58

Gerard ter Borch's paintings often allude to music, a common seventeenth-century metaphor for love and harmony between family members, lovers, or friends. In The Suitor's Visit, the arrival of a gentleman has interrupted a duet. A young woman has risen to greet him, leaving her bass viol and sheet music on the table, while her seated friend continues to strum a lute. In the seventeenth century, both the lute and viol often accompanied singing. Listen to a soloist singing to the accompaniment of seventeenth-century Dutch music played on instruments similar to those in Ter Borch’s painting.

Music: "Queen Alcyone’s Dream" from Haarlem Winter Flowers, 1645/1647; performed by Camerata Trajectina, Pickled Herring, Music from the time of Frans Hals, 2003 (MP3 832k) Audio help

Gerard ter Borch

Officer Writing a Letter, c. 1658/1659, oil on canvas, 21 5/8 x 18 15/16 in., Philadelphia Museum of Art, The William L. Elkins Collection, 1924

Gerard ter Borch

Portrait of a Young Man, c. 1663, oil on canvas, 26 1/2 x 21 3/8 in., The National Gallery, London

Gerard ter Borch

Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1663, oil on canvas, 24 15/16 x 20 3/4 in., The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection

Gerard ter Borch

The Music Lesson, c. 1668/1669, oil on panel, 22 7/8 x 18 5/8 in., The Toledo Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Ter Borch often repeated figures from one painting to another. Both The Music Lesson and The Music Party contain nearly identical images of a young woman holding a French lute as she reaches to turn a page of sheet music. This instrument probably belonged to the artist or a member of his family, as it appears in several of his paintings. The woman and her lute-playing teacher are engaged in a musical duet, implying that their hearts are also attuned to each other. Listen to two selections of seventeenth-century Dutch music composed for two lutes.

Music: A Lark has Died and The Angry Horse from the Lute Book of Johan Thysius (1621 - 1653); performed by Camerata Trajectina, Pickled Herring, Music from the time of Frans Hals, 2003 (MP3 544k and 1.1MB) Audio help

Gerard ter Borch

The Music Party, c. 1668/1670, oil on panel, 22 7/8 x 18 5/8 in., Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Mary M. Emery

Many seventeenth-century songbooks were entirely devoted to love songs because musical gatherings offered prime opportunities for flirtatious social encounters between men and women. Here, the two young men are apparently singing, although the gaze of the seated youth suggests that his interest lies more with the young woman than with the songbook in his hands. The woman plays a French lute, which has a separate pegbox for a set of longer bass strings. This instrument was especially popular in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries when it served mainly to accompany another musical instrument or singing. Listen to two selections of seventeenth-century music. The first selection is of a French lute; the second selection is a vocal with lute accompaniment.

Music: Nicholas Hotman (died 1663), Courante; performed by Camerata Trajectina, Music from the Golden Age, 1992 (MP3 544k) Audio help

Constantijn Huygens (1596 - 1687), What shall we do?, 1640; performed by Camerata Trajectina, Music from the Golden Age, 1992 (MP3 2.1MB) Audio help

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 56 paintings by Dutch 17th-century artist Gerard ter Borch were displayed in this exhibition, the first devoted to the artist in the United States. Drawn from over 28 public and private collections, the exhibition included ter Borch’s well-known images of ladies in satin, as well as portraits, depictions of notable events, and scenes of everyday life. In addition to the two exhibition venues, a small selection of paintings was shown at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, from June 9 through September 4, 2005.

A public symposium titled Gerard ter Borch: Contemplating the Interior was held on November 7. The exhibition inspired a 4-part festival, Evenings with ter Borch, held from November 13 through 16. The evenings featured music by 17th-century Dutch and Flemish composers and gallery talks.

Organization: The exhibition was organized by the American Federation of Arts, New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., curator of northern baroque painting at the National Gallery, was the curator.

Sponsor: Support was provided by the National Patrons of the AFA. The catalogue was made possible in part by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. The exhibition was supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Teaching Packet: Gerard ter Borch: A Resource for Educators, by Nelly Silagy Benedek et al. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; New York: American Federation of Arts, 2004.

Attendance: 74,753

Catalog: Gerard ter Borch, by Arthur K. Wheelock. Jr. et al. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art; New York: American Federation of Arts; in association with Yale University Press, 2004.

Brochure: Gerard ter Borch, by Adriaan Waiboer. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2004.

Other Venues: The Detroit Institute of Arts, February 27–March 22, 2005

Borch the Younger, Gerard ter: Dutch, 1617 - 1681

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Gerard ter Borch