Who is this man? He sits slightly turned in front of a dark background and looks at the viewer with thinning hair and rosy cheeks. Perhaps his expression is what’s most intriguing. He looks unfazed with slightly pouted lips and gives the viewer no insight into his emotion. No one knows who this man is, and no one has written about this specific portrait. The portrait appeared in an auction in 2000 when it was attributed to Gerard Ter Borch. It seems to match the style of portraits Ter Borch painted in Deventer of the upper class in the 1650s. This man is certainly a member of the upper class because his clothing. In all of Ter Borch’s paintings, he depicts fabric and clothing perfectly. When Ter Borch married in 1654 and settled with his wife in Deventer, he established himself as the main artist and portraitist working in the city.

Gerard Ter Borch the Younger, son of artist Gerard Ter Borch the Elder, was born in Zwolle in 1617. Before he entered into the workshop of Pieter de Molijn in 1633, Ter Borch trained with his father and received an excellent education. Ter Borch was well travelled and spent time in London, maybe Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and France. Because of his associations with the Spanish court, he captures the attention of important, wealthy, political people living in Amsterdam. In Deventer, Ter Borch painted and participated in local politics, and he died in the city in 1681.

Katie Neal

http://smalltreasures.as.ua.edu/?p=596