Memorial Portrait of Moses ter Borch

• Memorial Portrait of Moses ter Borch (1645-1667)
• Memorial Portrait of Moses ter Borch

SK-A-4908

signature and date: ‘G. ter Borch’

Moses died in 1667 during the storming of Fort Languard near Felixstowe in England. Not long thereafter Gerard and Gesina painted this picture in memory of their youngest brother. Gerard painted Moses’ portrait, Gesina the background and the objects. These allude to Moses’ heroic death and the transience of life, such as time (the pocket watch), death (the skull), eternity (ivy on the rocks) and loyalty (the dogs).

Catalogue of the Bryan Gallery of Christian Art, New York 1853, p. 11, nr. 147 [als portret van Willem III].

• painter: Gerard ter Borch (II)
• painter: Gesina ter Borch

1667 - 1669

olieverf op doek

height 76.2 cm x width 56.5 cm

Purchased with the support of the Rijksmuseum-Stichting

purchase 1995-01-12

Public domain

? testament Gesina ter Borch (1630-90), Zwolle 16 (?) April 1690, (`En zullen al mijn conterfeitsels, en van broeder Moses en van vader en moeder en bestevader en bestemoeder, … niet verkoft, maar voor de kinderen bewaart moeten worden´);{Houck 1899, p. 156.} …; collection Thomas Jefferson Bryan (1802-70), New York, 1853;{Coll. cat. New York 1853, p. 11, no. 147 (`portrait of William, Prince of Orange and King of England´) Coll. cat. New York 1853b, p. 88, no. 147 (`William, Prince of Orange´).} by whom donated to The New York Historical Society, 2 April 1867; periodically on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, c. 1979-94;{McNeil Kettering 1995, p. 317.} sale The New York Historical Society, New York (Sotheby´s), 12 January 1995, no. 33, $310,000 to the museum, with support from the Rijksmuseum-Stichting

Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

• Catalogue of the Bryan Gallery of Christian Art, New York 1853, p. 11, nr. 147 [als portret van Willem III].
• Bryan Companion Catalogue 1853, p. 88, nr. 147.
• Catalogue NY Historical Society 1915, p. 79, nr. B-182.
• J. Verbeek, 'Tekeningen van de familie Terborch', Antiek (1966) nr. 2, p. 37, 39 + afb.
• Kunstschrift, 2005, nr. 3 [gewijd aan Ter Borch]
• The Burlington Magazine (nov. 1996), p. 779 + afb.
• S.J. Gudlaugsson, 'Einige Ausnahmefälle in der Bildnisgestaltung Ter Borches', Festschrift Friedrich Winckler (1959), p. 309, ill. 5.
• Mogelijk M.E. Houck, Mededelingen...ter Borch, Verslagen...Overijsselsch Regt en Geschiedenis 1899, p. 156.
• A.A. Turner, Lights and Shadows of New York Picture Galleries. Forty photographs, New York 1864, p. XVI [William of Orange. G. Terburg. In the Gallery of Thomas J. Bryan, Esq. (Frick coll number: O31//Y87)].
• E.W. Moes, 'Gerard ter Borch en zijn familie', Oud Holland (1886), p. 156 (ill.), p. 162-164.
• Documentatiemap Schilderijen: correspondentie over de aankoop.
• Hofstede de Groot, vol. 5, p. 92, nr. 276 [als mogelijk Willem III].

To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:

https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/2009364