Portrait of a Woman
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
unframed: 63.3 × 52.7 cm · framed: 87.5 × 77 × 7 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
Accession Number
1944.93
Tags
About this artwork
Every detail of his subject’s elaborate costume is skillfully recorded: glittering jewels, filmy lace, knots of ribbons, heavy black silk, and shimmering white satin. The ability to recreate satin’s luster was Gerard ter Borch’s particular trademark: he used fine flicks and sweeps of the brush, occasionally adding and wiping away tiny bits of paint to make the white fabric appear to shine. Ter Borch offset the profusion of costume detail by deliberately isolating the figure within a spare settin...