A Woman Playing the Theorbo-Lute and a Cavalier

Artist
Gerard ter Borch the Younger
Year
ca. 1658
Medium
Oil on wood
Dimensions
14 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (36.8 x 32.4 cm)

In a quiet candlelit interior, a woman plays a theorbo-lute while a cavalier listens beside her, a glass of wine on the table between them. Gerard ter Borch was the subtlest of the Dutch genre painters, rendering fabric, light and gesture with a restraint that anticipates Vermeer.