An Officer dictating a Letter

1648

Turns to interior scenes

Whereas earlier he painted mainly scenes of peasant and military life, from 1648 he gives more attention to domestic interiors with few figures: gallant couples, ladies reading a letter or making music.

1648

Returns to Holland

In the same year he returns to Holland and lives by turns in Amsterdam, The Hague, Haarlem, Kampen and Zwolle; in a short time he gains the reputation of Europe’s foremost master of genre painting. One of his great patrons is the Amsterdam burgomaster Andries de Graeff.

15 May 1648

Present at the ratification of the Peace of Münster

In the service of Count Peñaranda, he is present at the conclusion of the Peace of Münster between Holland and Spain on 15 May 1648 and records the event in his celebrated little picture, painted on copper, “The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster” (De bezwering van de vrede van Münster).

14 February 1654

Marries and settles in Deventer

He marries Gertruid Matthijsen and settles in Deventer; in the 1650s he concentrates on genre painting, showing people in ordinary everyday surroundings and sometimes in mysterious or amorous relationships.

not after 1655

Caspar Netscher becomes his pupil

Caspar Netscher studies under ter Borch in 1655 at the latest. Together with his master he makes nine of the ten portraits of the Craeyvanger family.

1655

Granted citizenship of Deventer

In 1655, a year after settling there, he is granted citizenship of Deventer.