Portrait of a Seated Man

Portrait of a Seated Man

Portrait of a Seated Man
Artist:Gerard ter Borch the Younger (Dutch, Zwolle 1617–1681 Deventer)
Date:late 1650s or early 1660s
Medium:Oil on wood
Dimensions:14 1/8 x 12 in. (35.9 x 30.5 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1889
Accession Number:89.15.15
Although Ter Borch was born in the comparatively provincial eastern Dutch town of Zwolle and made his career at nearby Deventer after 1654, he was intimately familiar with painting in Haarlem, Amsterdam, and The Hague. He also travelled internationally before 1650, most importantly to depict members of the Dutch and Spanish courts at the peace negotiations of 1646–48 at Munster. This experience and his refined style and perception of character made ter Borch a very successful portraitist in and around Deventer. This portrait was probably painted there in the late 1650s.
Catalogue Entry
The first of seven paintings by Ter Borch to enter the Museum's collection, this anonymous portrait probably dates from the late 1650s or early 1660s. The patron was presumably one of the artist's numerous clients in and around Deventer. A good number of single male portraits by Ter Borch are known; many, like this one, include a hat resting on a table. To judge from the present figure's placement in the picture field, as compared with that of men in Ter Borch's pendant portraits, this work never had a mate.
[2010; adapted from Liedtke 2007]

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