Afternoon Valentine's Art: "The Suitor's Visit" by Gerard ter Borch the Younger

Well, here we are once again with a  mid-winter reminder of Romantic Love and all of its "promises". Today is a day where healthy boundaries all over high schools, and the internet will be broken.

If anyone gives you a balloon with an uncapitalized "I" please, know they are not "the one". Prince Charming would certainly capitalize any "I."

Dentists around the world are banking on cavities from these treats for their next Florida beach vacation!

If romantic love could strictly be limited to promising endless amounts of chocolate and high calories, like the Holiday suggests we might be in better shape than having to deal with the consequences of broken hearts, uncomfortable break ups, or perhaps the worst: unrequited love. No, he or she did not accept your friend request on Facebook and it hurts...if you get blocked that is a bad sign and they are not playing hard to get. Boundaries are good.

In honor of this awkward and beautiful holiday, I decided to pay the National Gallery of Art a little visit. I adore the Dutch and Flemish Galleries so chose a painting fitting with Valentine's Day to fit the mood, "The Suitor's Visit" by Gerard ter Borch the Younger, painted in 1658.

"You're late and didn't even bring me Valentine's Day Chocolates. How dare you..."

Doing a little research

 Let's ask ourselves some questions, if you had called your high school crush and they didn't respond, how would you feel? If you fast forward to current times and your love doesn't respond to your text message or friend request within the appropriate 24 hours of a time limit to show interest, how would you feel? If he or she showed up at your home, perhaps these would be glances that would ensue:

"Did your cell phone battery really die?"

"The Suitor's Visit" is to convey the idea that the woman has been waiting for her love to come by her house. The looks they exchange are to mean that he is seeking her good graces though he has shown up very late, perhaps 5 minutes or perhaps 2 hours late. When I was reading the review by the curator, Arthur Wheelock, he seemed to infer that the main character of the painting was the woman since she is in the center. What totally gripped me from his review, is that he explained that the woman in the painting is the sister of the painter, Gersina ter Borch, and that she was actually the mastermind behind this painting having encouraged her brother to paint it. She was an artist in her own right! The same year, a bit earlier perhaps, Gersina had painted her own version of the suitor.

Gersina ter Borch, A Man Courting a Lady, 1658, Source, Rijksmusem

 In her rendition, the woman in the painting has laughing eyes as to laugh at the lengths for which the suitor will go to impress her. Gersina has many of her own paintings and poetry in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. There is a beautiful article on Gersina as an unappreciated female artist that you can access here. 

 In this painting by her brother, the woman has eyes of patience that has been tried. Gersina, as a woman, was limited as a painter and artist because of her sex. She, however, gave great influence to her brother, Gerard, on what to paint and how to paint it. Gerard became famously known for his ability to paint intricate textiles in paintings. I was really excited to visit the museum in person, after having read so much about Gersina.

I went to the National Gallery of Art for lunch, giving myself an hour for the whole trip, and looked for the painting.

Let's go!

Welcome home.

Don't mind if I do!

Perfection

When I found it what stood out to me from the actual painting was how large it was! It was about three feet by three feet in a perfect square!

What I noticed from the painting was the beautiful bright white and shimery skirt from the woman in the painting. I seems as though someone physically cut satin cloth and put it in the painting. A feeling of purity and goodness comes from the woman, which is what Gersina would have wanted. She wrote many poems on the virtues of purity in women. I liked all of the creases in her skirt and the gold trim on the front that was painted so delicately.

I could look at this skirt painting for hours. It is breathtaking. What a way to pass a 2 PM on a Thrursday afternoon!

Out of the characters, this is what I noted when I visited in person. My favorite character by far is the dog. I love how he came along with the suitor and is looking at the lady with curiosity, perhaps asking for a treat.

"Milkbone?"

 Another character that I enjoyed was the woman playing the therobo who ignores everything and keeps playing her instrument. She seems to have no interest or concern over the suitor who just entered and keeps herself in her musical world.

"Don't waste your time, she will break up with you in a week! She only wants the Valentine's Day chocolates to post a picture of them in Instagram!"

 Lastly, I like how the main woman's face is expressing as if to say, "Where have you been?" And his expression says, "I am so sorry I was skating on the Frozen Amstel River, and got stuck in traffic."

"My ice-skate got stuck in the frozen Amstel river and I fell over and made a fool of myself. A thief stole your heart shaped Valentine's Day chocolates. I chased him wearing only one skate on one foot, leaving the other skate stuck in the ice. It was awful!"

In person, I asked myself where the lighting is coming from in the painting since the majority of the room is dark except for the front of the four characters.

Overall, I highly enjoyed learning about this painting and more so when I found out that Gersina ter Borch was the mastermind behind it. Have a Happy Valentine's Day!


Alexandra Libby, Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Gerard ter Borch the Younger/The Suitor's Visit/c. 1658,” Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, NGA Online Editions, https://purl.org/nga/collection/artobject/65 (accessed February 14, 2020).