Portrait of a Man
Gerard ter Borch the Younger(Zwolle 1617 – 1681 Deventer)ca. 1653
oil on panel
23.8 x 18 cm
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How to cite
Rahusen, Henriette. “Portrait of a Man” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 2nd ed. Edited by Arthur
K. Wheelock Jr. New York, 2017–20. https://theleidencollection.com/artwork/portrait-of-a-man-2/ (archivedMay 2020).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive ismanaged by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrativeoccurs.

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This simple half-length portrait demonstrates Gerard ter Borch the Younger

Comparative Figures’s exceptional ability to convey an effective likeness with a modicum ofmeans. The man, perhaps of early middle age, is dressed plainly in a black
costume enlivened only by a simple collar and narrow cuffs of white linen. A
black cloak is pulled close around his portly frame, and he clutches a pair offawn-colored gloves in his left hand.
Portrait of a Man probably dates to about 1653. Together with the Portrait of
Jan van Goyen (fig 1) and another portrait of an unidentified sitter (fig 2),
both of which date to about 1652–53, The Leiden Collection’s image isamong Ter Borch’s earliest half-length portraits in a rectangular format.[1] Allthese paintings depict the subject facing three-quarters to the right, with thesolid pyramidal bulk of their figures silhouetted against a neutral background.
The sitters are remarkably devoid of pretense, and each regards the viewer
in an unusually relaxed and open manner.

Fig 1. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait of
Jan van Goyen, ca. 1652–53, oil
on panel, 20 x 16 cm, The PrincelyCollections, Liechtenstein,
Vaduz–Vienna, inv. GE893

Portrait of a Man is painted on a single horizontally grained plank of wood,
presumably oak. The edges are not beveled. The panel appears to havebeen trimmed along the left side and possibly also along the top;[2] it may
originally have shared the slightly wider proportions of Ter Borch’s Portrait of
Jan van Goyen mentioned above.
At the time the painting was sold in 2000 there were two labels on the backof the panel, one indicating that the painting had at one time been in thecollection of Georges Mieg, and the other providing an old auction catalogue
description with the number “247.” Both labels have since been removed.
The Mieg family was one of the leading industrial families in Mulhouse,France; in 1800, together with the Dollfus family, they founded Dollfus-Mieg

Fig 2. Gerard ter Borch, Portrait ofa Man, ca. 1652–53, oil on panel,
28 x 23 cm, private collection& Compagnie (DMC), one of the largest European producers of fabric andembroidery thread. Georges Mieg (1865–1924) was an amateur musicianand avid supporter of cultural institutions in Mulhouse. Both his father,Mathieu (1821–73), and grandfather, Jean-Georges (1788–1864), werecollectors, notably of paintings and objects relating to the history ofMulhouse.[3] On the reverse of the panel is a red wax seal. Though worn, theimpressed forms are not inconsistent with (and probably represent) the armsof the Mieg family.[4]- Henriette Rahusen, 2017
© 2020 The Leiden CollectionPortrait of a Man
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1. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:104–5, nos. 93
and 92 respectively. See Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. et al., Gerard ter Borch (Exh. cat.
Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts) (Zwolle, 2005), 97–99(Portrait of Jan van Goyen, no. 21) and 100–1 (Portrait of a Man, no. 22); additionally on
Portrait of a Man, see Peter C. Sutton, Dutch and Flemish Paintings: The Collection of Willem
Baron van Dedem (London, 2002), 38–41.
2. See the Technical Summary prepared by Annette Rupprecht, June 2012. Viewed from theback, the panel has lighter-colored strips 3 to 5 centimeters wide along the top, left, andbottom edges (suggesting where the panel previously had been masked off), but none along
the right (i. e., the left side of the panel viewed from the front). In addition, the cuts of theupper and left edges of the panel show a raised lip of unpainted wood along the front surface,suggesting that these edges have been modified.
3. Georges Mieg, “Un inspirateur du Musée Historique, Jean-George Mieg 1788–1864,” Bulletindu Musée Historique du Mulhouse 44 (1924): 239–56. On Georges Mieg, see LéonardGeorges Werner, “Georges Mieg (1865–1924),” Bulletin du Musée Historique du Mulhouse
44 (1924): 386–88.
4. See Nicolas Ehrsam, Livre d’or (Bürgerbuch) de la ville de Mulhouse, rev. ed. (Mulhouse,1883), pl. 111.

Provenance(possibly) Mathieu Mieg (1821–73), Mulhouse; by descent to Georges Mieg (1865–1924),
Mulhouse; his widow, Mme Marie-Valentine Mieg-De Coninck (1875–1963).
Private collection, France; (sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15 December 2000, no. 146 [asattributed to Ter Borch, for 65,000 francs to Kunsthandel P. de Boer B.V., Amsterdam,2000–6; to Bijl-Van Urk B. V., Alkmaar, 2006]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2006.

Exhibition History(Possibly) Mulhouse, Musée Municipal des Beaux-Arts, “Exposition de Peintures des© 2020 The Leiden Collection

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Collections Privées de Mulhouse et de sa Région, XVIe au XIXe siècle.” 23 June–1
September 1959, no. 38, as Portrait d’homme, 26 x 21 cm (the current panel shows evidenceof having been trimmed) [lent by Mme Georges Mieg].
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, andTheir Contemporaries,” 26 October 2014–4 January 2015; Birmingham Museum of Art, 4February–26 April 2015, no. 4 [lent by the present owner].

References
Musée Municipal des Beaux-Arts. Exposition de Peintures des Collections Privées deMulhouse et de sa Région, XVIe au XIXe siècle. Exh. cat. Mulhouse, Musée Municipal desBeaux-Arts. Mulhouse, 1959, no. 38. (possibly)Weller, Dennis P. “Portrait of a Man.” In Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, andTheir Contemporaries. Exh. cat. Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art; Birmingham,Birmingham Museum of Art. Raleigh, 2014, 52–55, no. 4.

Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of horizontally grained but vertically oriented rectangular-shaped oak,has no bevels but has irregularly cut edges, which suggest the panel dimensions have been
modified.[1] The panel is unthinned and uncradled and has no machine tool marks. There is one
red wax collection seal and one inscription but no import stamps, stencils, labels or panel maker’smarks.
A light gray-colored ground has been thinly applied. Drawing a diagonal line from the upper left
corner to the lower right, the right half of the panel contains a distinct pattern of radio-opaqueswirls that do not relate to the present composition.[2] The paint has been built up in successive
thin layers applied thinly and smoothly light over dark through the face and dark over light throughthe background.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. Theimages and X-radiograph reveal changes in the shape of the contours of the figure’s white collar.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting has not undergone conservation treatment since its acquisition in 2006 and remains
in a good state of preservation.

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Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination only. There may be narrow
remnants of bevels along the left and lower edges.
2. See X-radiograph.

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