A beautiful smiling lady in blue strumming to some unheard tune gazes at a man who appears deeply engrossed in their music. The room around them holds many small but significant details. Such is the scene in Gerard ter Borsch the Younger’s painting, A Woman Playing the Theorbo-Lute and a Cavalier, a vibrant but lessor known Dutch Genre painting that was created in the Dutch Golden Age of Art. It is not unlike many other paintings that fall under the same category, but certain stylistic choices clearly convey its origin and time period. The society in the Dutch Republic of the seventeenth century shaped ter Borsch’s compositional choices and subject matter
Comparable to other works of the time, iconography was undoubtedly used to convey the…show more content… The pocket watch with the blue ribbon suggests this idea of voluntary self- restraint. Ter Borsch placed this item next to the man’s hand that is angled in such a way that desire is in balance with restraint. The virtuous woman is painted wearing blue, a color traditionally reserved for the Virgin Mary. This is a courtship scene and the blue on the watch is reflective of the blue on her dress. Although they are alone in a private setting, the couple still remains without morals still remained untarnished. The protestant sensibilities and strict moral code of the area, supported such ideas and is what allowed paintings that featured them to become…show more content… ‘The careful dovetailing of shapes between the man and woman is similar to Vermeer's approach to design.’ Although their works differ significantly apart from that, both men follow Baroque sensibilities when capturing their subjects. They both used repousse devices, foreshortening, and pushed fabric into the foreground. The feeling of intimacy is not only created by the subject matter, but the space the picture plane embodies is very tight, claustrophobic almost this is a device used quite often during this time to further engage the viewer; to really make them feel like they are a part of this space. As with many other Baroque artists, ter Borsch painted with somewhat loose brushwork to create varying degrees of
