The Story
Commissioned by or for the sitter; ? his son Gerard van Reede, Lord of Nederhorst (1624-70), Utrecht; ? his daughter Anna Elisabeth van Reede (1652-82), Utrecht, Zuylen Castle, Oud-Zuilen; estate inventory her husband Hendrik Jacob van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1642-92), his house in Utrecht, 1692, (‘twee kleine geschilderde pourtraitjes van de oude heer van Nederhorst in swarte lijsjes’);{Ekkart et al 1996, p. } ? his son Reinout Gerard van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1677-1729), Zuylen Castle, Oud-Zuilen, The Hague and Utrecht; ?
his son Diederik Jacob van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1707-76) Utrecht, Zuylen Castle, Oud-Zuilen; ? his son Willem René Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1743-1839) Utrecht, Zuylen Castle, Oud-Zuilen; ? his son Carel Emanuël Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1775-1845) Utrecht, Zuylen Castle, Oud-Zuilen, The Hague; ? his son Willem René Baron van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1813-78), Zuylen Castle, Oud-Zuilen; ?
Executed in oil on copper, measuring width: 11; height: 14.5; width: 17.7; depth: 3.7; height: 21.3, the surface rewards close looking. Gerard ter Borch builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
