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Lot Essay
In the late 1630s, Gerard ter Borch traveled to Spain, probably visiting Madrid, where he painted a small panel portrait of King Philip IV, for which only an autograph replica is known (see S.J. Gudlaugsson, Katalog der Gemälde Gerard ter Borchs, II, no. 9). Roughly a decade later he was successively employed in Münster by the Dutch and Spanish delegations charged with negotiating an end to decades of hostilities. Ter Borch commemorated the ratification of the Treaty of Münster, which formally recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic, in a copper group portrait showing the Dutch delegates at left and the Spanish ones at right (fig. 1; The National Gallery, London, on loan to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
At least eleven small-scale portraits – all on copper supports of various sizes and oval in format – depicting delegates to the event are also known. The present painting marks a remarkable recent addition to this group. Though the sitter cannot be readily identified among the Spanish delegates in ter Borch’s group portrait, his portrait must nevertheless have been painted in this context. Ter Borch’s choice of format and support for these portraits may have been due in part to the traditional courtly associations of miniatures given their jewel-like finish and portability. The artist’s abilities at capturing the character of his sitters also contributed to the success of these works. Despite the small scale of this painting, the sitter cuts a figure befitting his involvement in one of the most significant moments in European history. Dressed in black with an unadorned white collar and sporting a mustache and goatee, the man’s impassive gaze and staid facial expression convey the force of his personality.
In terms of scale, the present portrait is only slightly smaller than ter Borch’s portraits of Caspar van Kinschot and Don Caspar de Bracamonte y Guzman, Count of Peñaranda, both of which Gudlaugsson dated to the end of ter Borch’s stay in Münster, circa 1647-8 (op. cit., nos. 51 and 56). In its small scale, the present painting equally looks ahead to a pair of similarly sized portraits painted around 1650 and today in the Suermondt Ludwig Museum, Aachen (see Gudlaugsson, op. cit., nos. 63 and 64).
At least eleven small-scale portraits – all on copper supports of various sizes and oval in format – depicting delegates to the event are also known. The present painting marks a remarkable recent addition to this group. Though the sitter cannot be readily identified among the Spanish delegates in ter Borch’s group portrait, his portrait must nevertheless have been painted in this context. Ter Borch’s choice of format and support for these portraits may have been due in part to the traditional courtly associations of miniatures given their jewel-like finish and portability. The artist’s abilities at capturing the character of his sitters also contributed to the success of these works. Despite the small scale of this painting, the sitter cuts a figure befitting his involvement in one of the most significant moments in European history. Dressed in black with an unadorned white collar and sporting a mustache and goatee, the man’s impassive gaze and staid facial expression convey the force of his personality.
In terms of scale, the present portrait is only slightly smaller than ter Borch’s portraits of Caspar van Kinschot and Don Caspar de Bracamonte y Guzman, Count of Peñaranda, both of which Gudlaugsson dated to the end of ter Borch’s stay in Münster, circa 1647-8 (op. cit., nos. 51 and 56). In its small scale, the present painting equally looks ahead to a pair of similarly sized portraits painted around 1650 and today in the Suermondt Ludwig Museum, Aachen (see Gudlaugsson, op. cit., nos. 63 and 64).