TERBORCH, ter'borK (TER BORCII, TERr.URG), GERARD (1617-81 ). An eminent genre and por trait painter of the Dutch School. Born at Zwolle,. he was first instructed by his father, a draughts man and etcher of some ability, and went, in 1633, to Haarlem, where he became the pupil of Pieter de Molyn. In the selection of sub jects lie favored scenes of a peaceful and refined domestic life, occasionally disconeerted by the vicissitudes of love, the favorite theme of his pictures. Only exceptionally lie descends into the lower strata of society, as for instance in his earliest picture preserved to us, the "Backgam mon-Players," in the Kunsthalle at Bremen. The influence of the grand master of Ilaarlem, Frans Dais, is noticeable in his first dated p;e ture, "Consultation" (1635, Berlin Museum). To the same period may be assigned the "Knife Grinder's Family" (ib.) and "Boy with a Dog" ( Pinakothek, Munich). In 1633 lie went to Lon don and is virtually lost sight of until 1645, when we find him painting portraits at Amsterdam. Thence he went to Spinster, where he painted his most celebrated work, the "Peace Congress of Minster" (1648, National Gallery, London), con taining sixty likenesses, perhaps the most per fect specimen of miniature portrait-painting. Accompanying the Spanish envoy to Madrid. lie found much favor at Court and painted several pm-traits of Philip IV., by whom lie was knighted. In 1650 lie was back in Holland, where he married a widow, and settled at Deventer, in 1654. From about that period probably date the portraits of himself and wife in the Amsterdam Museum. A later full-figure portrait of himself is in the Bague Gallery, which also contains the charming picture known as "The Dispatch" (1665).
From 1650 to 1660 he painted most of those conversation pieces which have chiefly made Terborch's name popular, to wit: "The Reading Lesson" (c.1650), "An Offer of Money," and
"The Concert" (all in the Louvre) ; "Paternal Admonition" (c.1655, Amsterdam and Berlin) ; "Trumpeter Delivering Love-letter" (Munich) ; "Officer Writing Letter," and "Officer Reading Letter" (both in Dresden) ; and the ''Guitar Lesson" (National Gallery, London). All these have in common a forcible treatment of light and coloring, in which a pronounced lemon tint prevails beside a vigorous brownish red or deep scarlet. During the last two decades of his life his technique reached the height of its develop ment. Minutely correct in drawing, rich and highly original in coloring, unsurpassed in the rendering of fabric, always harmonious and deli cate in tone, the creations of his last period may well be ranked with those of the greatest colorists. They include: "The Music Lesson" (1660, Louvre), "Lute-Player" (in Antwerp, Cassel, and Dresden), "The Concert" (Berlin), "Lady Washing Her Hands" (Dresden), "Paring an Apple" (Vienna), and "The Letter" (Buck ingham Palace, London), one of his most distin guished delineations. A striking example of fine modeling and masterly stuff-painting is "The Smoker," in the Berlin Museum, which also pos sesses foie• small full-length portraits of superior merit. His "Meeting of the Town Council" (1667, Town Hall, Deventer) ranks next to his :Minster picture as regards the number of fig ures. in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, may be seen a portrait of himself and another portrait of a gentleman. Consult: 'Michel, Ter bury ct s« famine (Paris, 1888) ; Rosenberg, and Jan Steen (Leipzig, 1897) ; and Lemeke, in Dohme, Kunst and Kiinstler, ii. (ib., 1S78).