Bio: Gerard Ter Borch
(1617-1681)


Special thanks to the Microsoft Corporation for permission to use following biographical information from Microsoft® Encarta '97:


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 (1640s, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), and small, intimate genre scenes, such as The Music Lesson (circa 1675, Cincinnati Art Museum).




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