Horse Stable
About the painting
A dappled gray horse feeds at a manger while a man brushes his coat. A horse blanket and bridle hang from a pole in the foreground and other barnyard utensils--a pitchfork, broom, and pail--fill the stable. To the right, a fashionably dressed woman appears at a doorway that connects to the main farmhouse. Light from the open doorway illuminates the animal, the painting's center of attention. Domestic animals like this carefully groomed horse would have been valued possessions of their prosperous owners during the 1600s in Holland. Clues such as the orderly and well-built stable and the woman's handsome dress and jewelry indicate that this was a well-to-do middle-class household. Gerard ter Borch's paintings are noted for their subtlety of composition, close attention to detail, and delicate color. In *Horse Stable* he used a palette of warm browns and grays, brightened by the red accents of the man's hat, the woman's skirt, and the bricks on the left-hand wall.
J. Paul Getty Museum
Particulars
Meanwhile, in the life of Gerard ter Borch
The whole life14 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.
1655
Granted citizenship of Deventer
In 1655, a year after settling there, he is granted citizenship of Deventer.
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.
