Gerard Ter Borch

Gerard Ter Borch (1617-1681), 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 the Peace Treaty between the Dutch and Spanish at Münster (1648, National Gallery, London), which granted Dutch independence from Spain and brought the Eighty Years' War to a close. 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 Ter Borch travelled to London, Italy, Spain, Flanders, and Germany yet, despite his extensive travels, he remained primarily 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 (c. 1675, Cincinnati Art Museum).