Gesina ter Borch

The recorded working language is Dutch. The field of work recorded is painting. Places of work recorded in the authority are Zwolle. Work by Gesina ter Borch is recorded in the collections of Rijksmuseum, New York Historical and Bryan Gallery of Christian Art.

• Name — Gesina ter Borch • Born — 15 November 1631 • Birthplace — Deventer, Dutch Republic • Died — 16 April 1690 • Place of death — Zwolle, Dutch Republic • Field — Painting • Movement — Dutch Golden Age, Baroque

Gesina ter Borch was born on 15 November 1631 in Deventer in the Dutch Republic, and baptised as 'Geesien'. She was the first child of the third marriage of Gerard ter Borch the Elder, who taught her to draw and paint. Her father was a draftsman and artist, but became a customs collector of commercial trade with the title of license master, working on the border between the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic. He trained her older and younger brothers more formally but Gesina was well educated for a woman of her time and class, learning to read, write and study the art of calligraphy (seen as suitable endeavours for well-born women). She also studied music and learned to draw. Her half-brother Gerard ter Borch II enjoyed artistic success and corresponded with Gesina frequently. After the loss of her younger brother, Moses, in the Battle of Landguard Fort, part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667), Gesina's work conveyed her deep sadness.

• Illustration — Posthumous portrait of her younger brother Moses, painted by Gesina in collaboration with her half-brother, Gerard, ca. 1667–1669. The painting was in memory of Moses' promising work as an artist following his death after entering the Navy where he fought in the Second English Civil War on the English coast. Gesina ter Borch was successful during her artistic career, although given her relatively high social class, she did not have to work as an artist for a living. Her earliest dated piece is from 1648, when she was 17 years old. She also collaborated with her older half-brother Gerard in a few of his pieces. Gesina was a model for many of the ladies that are depicted in Gerard's works Ladies in Satin. Gerard considered Gesina his favorite model for these works. Gesina became a successful watercolorist. During her lifetime, she collected love poetry, and she made illustrations to coincide with it as well. Some albums of her work even included pieces dedicated to songs about love.

Ter Borch lived her entire life on the Sassenstraat in Zwolle, where she died on 16 April 1690. In 1660, she became friends with Henrik Jordis, a merchant from Amsterdam and an amateur poet. This resulted in courtship but she did not marry.

Only a few paintings by Gesina ter Borch are known, with the only signed painting discovered only in 2024. Three watercolor albums survive, as well as 59 loose sheets of drawings. Her work was not widely known during her lifetime, because she was an amateur rather than a professional artist. Between ages 14 and 15, Gesina began her first album of illustrated poetry and calligraphy of moralizing verses, the Materi-boeck, signed with the diminutive form of her name, 'Geesken ter Borch'. Between 1652 and 1660, she produced a second album with 116 sheets containing songs, poems, and illustrations.

• Illustration — alt= Domestic Argument, 1670. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. • Illustration — alt=Portrait of Cornelis Andriesz de Graeff Portrait of Cornelis Andriesz de Graeff. Mauritshuis, 1673, The Hague. • Illustration — Moses ter Borch Holding a Kolf Stick, c. 1655, National Gallery of Art, Washington

The authorities additionally record the headings Gesina Terborch, Gesina Terborch Borch, Gesina Ter Borch, Geesken Borch and Geesken Ter Borch. Her recorded language was Dutch. She was the child of Gerard ter Borch the Elder.

Gesina ter Borch is recorded as painter and artist.