^ Died
on 08 December 1681: Gerard Ter Borch II (or
Terburg), Dutch painter born in 1617.
— Ter Borch, Gerard was a Dutch painter, born in Zwolle, the son
of a painter. He went to England in 1635, to Italy in 1640, and in 1648
to Münster, Westphalia, where he painted his celebrated Swearing of
the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of Münster (1648, National
Gallery, London), marking the recognition of Dutch independence. Containing
60 likenesses, this work is a perfect specimen of miniature portrait
painting and one of the most imposing historical works in Dutch art.
From 1648 to 1651 Ter Borch was in Madrid. Despite his extensive foreign
travels, he remained a painter of Dutch family life. He worked in the
realistic tradition of Frans
Hals, Jan
Vermeer, and other Dutch painters, with careful attention to lighting
and the rendering of fabric. He produced charmingly realistic portraits,
such as Helena van der Schalke as a Child (1645), and small, intimate
genre scenes, such as The
Music Lesson (1672).
— LINKS
— Gallant
Conversation (The Paternal Admonition) giant reproduction (1654)
(small
reproduction) Version 1.
— Paternal
Admonition (1655, 70x60cm) Version 2 _ This painting having the popular
title of Parental Admonition (link above to another version) was
the subject of a charming passage by Goethe.
In his novel Die
Wahlverwandtschaften (“Elective Affinities”) Goethe notes
the delicacy of attitude of the figures. He remarks how the father quietly
and moderately admonishes his daughter who is seen from behind. The woman
in black, sipping from a glass, Goethe interprets as the young woman's mother,
who lowers her eyes so as not to be too attentive to the 'father's admonition'.
This moralizing title, however, is without foundation and not in accordance
with Ter Borch's usual themes.
The authoritative biographer of the artist
interprets the picture in the opposite sense, as a brothel scene, assuming
that the seated gentleman holds a coin in his right hand, offering it
to the girl. In fact, the detail of the coin is not visible. (The coin
is omitted in the engraving Goethe knew). In the Berlin version the passage
is rubbed; a former owner may have had it painted over because she or
he found it an embarrassing allusion. The Amsterdam version does not
show the coin either, but its original paint surface is generally abraded;
thus it is impossible to tell if it ever included the tell-tale coin.
Ter Borch's psychology is so delicate
that the common scenes he repeatedly painted are raised to the level
of highly civilized life. That Goethe's interpretation was possible at
all shows the refinement of Ter Borch's treatment. Even if he made a
mistake, Goethe had the right feeling for the way Ter Borch treated his
subjects. Psychologically and pictorially he retains a sensitive touch
and delicacy. The young woman is seen from behind; thus her face is averted.
The only flesh visible is her neck, which is modelled with tender, silvery
grey shadows. We have, however, opportunity to admire the silver-grey
satin and black velvet of her gown.
Ter Borch's minuteness and nicety of handling
concentrate largely on painting stuffs. Contrary to Vermeer's paintings,
the dim light and the subdued chiaroscuro do not allow a forceful grasp
of the whole field of vision. The light comes mostly from the front and
stops at the glossy surfaces of the costumes and other textures.
— Girl
in Peasant Costume. Probably Gesina, the Painter's Half-Sister (1650)
— Helena
van der Schalcke (1648) giant reproduction _ (Small
reproduction) _ In 1635-36 Ter Borch was in London where he acquired
familiarity with the English court portraiture. During the 1640s he began
to make extraordinary small and miniature portraits. One of the most
touching is his tiny portrait of Helena van der Schalcke as a Child,
which holds his own when hung next to the pictures Hals
and Rembrandt
made of children.
—Memorial
Portrait of Moses ter Borch (1669) — The
Ratification of the Treaty of Münster (1648) — Woman
at a Mirror (1650) —
— Officer
Writing a Letter (51x38cm) _ It is thought to be an early work of
the artist.
—
The Glass of Lemonade (1659, 67x54cm) _ The young woman depicted
in the painting is Gesina Ter Borch, the artist's sister, while the young
man is his brother Moses. _ detail
(artist's brother)
— The
Concert (1675) _ Ter Borch's fame rests mainly upon the genre pictures
he made after the middle of the 17th century which help define the subjects
and pictorial schemes used by many artists of his generation and those
who worked later. What sets him apart is his mastery of subtle narration
which can charge every episode with subdued tension.
In contrast to Pieter
de Hooch, Ter Borch maintains his fine taste and craftsmanship in
his genre pieces until the very end. His contact with Vermeer in Delft
in 1635 may have had an impact on the younger master. Then there conceivably
was a shift; some of Ter Borch's late works seem to show a sign of Vermeer's
influence. The fullness and clarity of the foreground figure playing
the cello in the Concert at Berlin and the bright illumination
of the room recall the Delft master; but it is also possible that the
two artists arrived at similar solutions independently. In any event,
the Ter Borch, the exquisite and minute treatment of materials, textures,
and stuffs with the most intricate light accents is completely personal.
The spatial relationships are not grasped with Vermeer's sureness, and
the composition lacks the Delft painter's masterly consideration of the
surface plane and the adjustment of the spatial accents to the overall
design.
It will be noted that the figure playing the
harpsichord has no Ter Borch character. Originally this figure represented
a man. Ter Borch subsequently transformed the man into a woman, and a
whimsical restorer, who worked on the picture at the end of the 19th
century because of its bad state of presentation, changed the woman's
gown and gave the model his wife's features.
— A
Concert (1675, 58x47cm) _ Ter Borch's fame rests mainly upon the
genre pictures he made after the middle of the 17th century which help
define the subjects and pictorial schemes used by many artists of his
generation and those who worked later. What sets him apart is his mastery
of subtle narration which can charge every episode with subdued tension.
Few genre painters ever revealed more delicately the character of three
individuals and their relation to each other as they ostensibly go about
their business of making music in a drawing-room.
— The
Lute Player (31x27cm) _ The painting is signed on the spine of the
book on the table: Gt. Borg FCT.
— Man
Offering a Woman Coins (1663, 67x55cm) _ This painting is euphemistically
known as The Gallant Officer. In this mercenary love scene a soldier
offers pieces of money to a young lady who is charming in type and dress.
Her reaction is not surprise. The stuff painting is particularly excellent,
as is the rendering of the facial expressions and the fine draughtsmanship
and subtle lighting of the hands; also the still-life on the table. The
apparent casualness is the result of careful thought and execution. The
appearance of the tip of the woman's shoe peeking out from under the
edge of her satin dress at the tremendous toe of the soldier's wonderful
hip boot is as calculated as the colour harmony of opulent browns, reds,
buff, white, and silver.
— A
Young Woman Playing a Theorbo to Two Men (1668, 68x58cm) _ Several
versions are known of the aristocratic interior by the artist. Many artists
have painted beautiful satins and silks , but no one has ever depicted
satin more exquisitely than the much-travelled Dutchman Gerard ter Borch.
First trained by his father Gerard ter Borch the Elder, who had lived
in Italy in his youth, the precocious young painter worked in Amsterdam
and Haarlem before venturing to Germany, Italy, England, France and Spain.
In 1646 he went to Münster, where he witnessed the ratification of the
treaty of 1648 signalling the triumphant end of the Dutch wars of independence
from Spain. In 1654, he married and settled down, permanently, in Deventer.
Whether miniature full-length portraits,
or scenes of - supposedly - everyday life, ter Borch's pictures are distinguished
by technical and psychological refinement. It seems curious, therefore,
that he first specialised in guardroom subjects - although he brings
even to the rowdy theme of garrisoned soldiers an element of stillness
and reflection. His best-known paintings, however, represent elegant
interiors with only a few figures, one of them usually a young woman
in ravishing pale satin. Here, in an old-ivory bodice trimmed with fur
and a white skirt setting off her fair hair, her shoe propped against
a foot warmer, she plays the theorbo, an early form of lute, accompanying
the man holding a song book. A man in a cloak looks on, and a spaniel
seems to listen. Behind them is a curtained bed. Under the red Turkey
carpet covering the table lies a single playing card, the ill-omened
ace of spades.
The woman and the singing man each appear
in other paintings by the artist, as do the silver box and candlestick
- this is 'selective' naturalism, a scene composed from the imagination
with ingredients assembled from drawings and studio props. In Dutch paintings
of this type music-making is usually suggestive of love, while playing
cards may be emblems of improvidence, and dogs and footwarmers can signify
base desires. Yet it would be foolhardy to read this subtle painting,
with its subdued tonality, as a scene of the demi-monde. We can never
know what the relationships of these three figures are, and their thoughts
and feelings, so delicately implied, are infinitely ambiguous. That,
surely, was the artist's intention: to evoke imperfectly understood events,
tantalising in their suggestion of mutability and transience.
— Boy
Ridding his Dog of Fleas (1665, 34x27cm) _ With Pieter de Hooch and
Johannes Vermeer, Gerard ter Borch is one of the most outstanding of
Dutch genre painters. Their paintings are based on close observation
of their contemporaries and their surroundings, and yet elements from
everyday life are often combined to suggest a particular mood, create
an intriguing situation or point a moral.
Ter Borch, the son of a painter, was born
in Zwolle and trained there in the studio of his father and also in the
Haarlem workshop of the landscape painter Pieter
Molijn. In his youth he travelled widely in Europe - to Germany,
Italy, England, France and Spain. By 1654 he had settled in Deventer
in his native province of Overijssel, where he achieved great professional
success. He also became one of the town's regent class, serving as a
councillor and painting a group portrait of his fellow regents.
In the genre scenes of his early years
ter Borch depicted the life of soldiers but after settling in Deventer
his paintings often showed elegant interiors in which small groups of
figures talk, drink and make music. In this painting ter Borch shows
a humbler setting and a mundane subject and yet he treats with the same
delicacy and refinement the depiction of the differing textures of fur,
hair, wood and felt. As with the painting of The
Lace-Maker by Netscher,
the painting gives an almost monumental quality to an everyday situation.
— The
Dancing Couple (1660, 76x68cm) _ This is one of an outstanding group
of interior scenes with figures painted by ter Borch in Deventer in the
years around 1660. He paints young men and women in elegant rooms, talking,
dancing, drinking, making music and flirting. In addition to his skill
in setting the scene, ter Borch possesses a remarkable technical gift,
especially in the description of texture. No Dutch artist rendered satin
more effectively than ter Borch nor was able to differentiate better
in the medium of oil paint between the textures of a leather jerkin,
a gleaming breastplate, a table carpet, a wooden lute and a brass candelabra.
In 1658 ter Borch was in Delft where he
witnessed a document with the young Vermeer. This recently discovered
evidence of a direct contact between the two artists confirms what has
long been suggested: that the simplicity and restraint of ter Borch's
style exercised an important influence on the Delft painter.
— A
Woman Spinning _ Ter Borch's fame rests mainly upon the genre pictures
he made after the middle of the 17th century which help define the subjects
and pictorial schemes used by many artists of his generation and those
who worked later. What sets him apart is his mastery of subtle narration
which can charge every episode with subdued tension. His rendering of
simple themes, such as a woman spinning, shows the same knowledge of
people as his more ambitious pieces.
— Woman
Playing the Lute (36x31cm) _ Formerly it was attributed to Gabriel
Metsu. (1629 - 1667).
— Woman
Reading a Letter (1662, 79x68cm) _ Ter Borch frequently represented
elegantly dressed men and women writing or reading letters, often, as
here, in the company of servants, family members, or friends quietly
awaiting the reader's reactions. Well-to-do burghers relished the aristocratic
social ritual of the love letter.
— Woman
Washing Hands (1655, 53x43cm) _ At Deventer, Ter Borch developed
an independent form of genre which in the meticulousness of its execution
seems to be close to the Leiden variant. In connection with his remarkable
talent for sensitive rendering of the texture of different fabrics, which
in all of his mature paintings constitutes a major pictorial motive,
Ter Borch showed a preference for subjects associated with Vanity or
Luxury. This preference must have a partially aesthetic background, for
these subjects allowed him to paint elegant interiors and richly dressed
ladies, as in this picture.
— The
Family of the Stone Grinder (1655) |
—
LINKS
