Gerard ter Borch was a Dutch painter who lived between 1617 and 1681. Jay and I saw a Ter Borch exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts last weekend.

Ter Borch was known for helping to develop the "genre" style of painting--the painting of everyday objects and people. Previously, painters had focused on portraits of important/wealthy people, historical or mythological events, or (occasionally) landscapes. Ter Borch painted ordinary subjects with stunning beauty.

For example, this painting, titled "Maid Milking," shows a woman milking a cow. But pay attention to the detail work in the painting--notice how you can almost feel the textures of the cow's skin and of the woman's dress.

Ter Borch's work is known for it's ambiguity of subject. In other words, it is not clear exactly what is going on in any painting, and the viewer is left to create an interpretation. This painting, called "Horse Stable," is an example. What is happening here? My partner believes that the woman--who is probably the lady of the house, judging by her jewelry and dress--is having an affair with the man in the stable. He bases this on the look that the woman is giving the man, and the prodigious quantity of phallic symbols in the work. What do you think? (Notice also the intricate details and the use of light of shadow.)

This painting, titled "The Music Lesson," is also ambiguous. It is a little difficult to see on the web page, but it is still clear that the man and women with instruments are looking at each other with a pretty lustful gaze for the 17th century. But what is the standing man looking at? Does anyone else think that he is engaging in that centuries-old homosexual tradition of watching the straight man you are in love with flirt with someone else?

For more information in Ter Borch, check out the Rijksmuseum's pages devoted to the artist and his work.