Gerard ter Borch

Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Bt. (1653–1709), Sprotbrough Hall, Doncaster, Co. York;
Thence by descent to the present owner.

Portrait of man: the panel is stable and flat, the paint surface is stable and the varnish is clear and even. There are some pinprick losses in the lower part of the man's coat and in the cloak around his waist. There is another tiny patch of slightly lifting paint upper left. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a campaign of spot retouchings, most notably upper left. Portrait of woman: the panel is stable and flat, the paint surface is stable and the varnish is clear and even. There are some light surface scratches in the upper left corner, the longest of which measures approximately 4 cm. There is also some frame abrasion along the lower and right margins, and a loss to the panel lower right. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals a campaign of strengthenings and retouchings, particularly in the woman's shawl and neck, and along the upper and right margins. Overall the panels are well-preserved, but there is some thinness throughout which means the ground has become visible in areas (as can be seen in high-resolution images).
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This pair is characteristic of Ter Borch’s earliest genre paintings, depicting half- or three-quarter length figures set against dark interior backgrounds engaged in domestic activities or, as is the case here, sitting lost in thought. The figure of the woman relates closely to the female sitter, also holding a glass and a pitcher, who appears in a painting of slightly larger dimensions in the Musée Fabre, Montpellier (inv. no. 836.4.69), dated 1650.¹ This similarity of type and style suggests a mid-century date for the present picture, when Ter Borch had returned from a decade and a half of journeys around Europe to settle in the province of Overijssel and began to specialise in such subjects.

These paintings were in the collection amassed at Sprotbrough Hall, Doncaster, which was rebuilt in 1685-90 by Sir Godfrey Copley, 2nd Bt. in the years following his marriage to Catharine, daughter of John Purcell M.P., an heiress of considerable fortune. On completion of the house, Sir Godfrey began to collect Dutch pictures, engravings and books to add to the very great number of portraits of various branches of the family and a fine depiction of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, with a greyhound, by Sir Anthony van Dyck.

We are grateful to Frits Duparc for confirming the attribution to Gerard ter Borch on first-hand inspection of the paintings.

1. See S.J. Gudlaugsson, Katalog der gemälde Gerard Ter Borchs, The Hague 1960, vol. I, p. 98, cat. no. 79, reproduced vol. II, p. 239, fig. 79.