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Woman Seated at Her Toilet
Studio of Gerard ter Borch the Younger(Zwolle 1617 – 1681 Deventer)ca. 1657 or lateroil on panel
47 x 35 cm
GB-107

How to cite
Wieseman, Marjorie E. “Woman Seated at Her Toilet” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by
Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/(archived December 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

In this placid vignette, a young woman fiddles with a lock of her hair as she stares

Comparative Figures

pensively at her image reflected in the small mirror on the table before her. Other
toilet accessories are scattered across the table: a round silver box, a candlestick, abrush, a pincushion, and a single strand of pearls. The woman’s attentive maid stands
just behind, patiently pulling a comb through her mistress’s dark blond curls. In theright foreground is a low table with an ivory comb resting at one corner; filling muchof the background of the scene is an ornate chimneypiece.
The subject of a woman at her toilet was one of the most popular themes in Dutch
genre painting during the second half of the seventeenth century, charmingly exploredon multiple occasions by artists such as Gerrit Dou (1613–75), Gabriel Metsu(1639–67), Frans van Mieris (1635–81), Caspar Netscher (1639–84), and Johannes
Vermeer (1632–75) in addition to Gerard ter Borch the Younger. While somepaintings draw conspicuous parallels with popular imagery and rhetoric thatassociated women regarding themselves in a mirror with the sins of pride and lust,[1]Fig 1. Gerard ter Borch, A Lady
Dressing Her Hair, ca. 1657–58, oil on
panel, 35 x 25 cm, The Wallace
Collection, London, no. 235, © The
Wallace Collection

others focus more simply on the pleasurably sensual qualities of these intimate
feminine rituals. Considering Ter Borch’s life-long fascination with the quiet beautyand cherished minutiae of women’s domestic preoccupations, it is no surprise that© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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depicting women at their toilet became one of his favored themes. Images of women
primping and preening, adjusting their costume, or dressing their hair offered viewers
a discreet glimpse of these private rituals. The ubiquitous presence of amaid—sometimes older, but invariably plain and soberly dressed—introduced acontrast that subtly accentuated the youthful beauty and feminine grace of the woman
being dressed.
Ter Borch treated the subject of a woman dressing her hair, assisted by her maid, on
at least three occasions. Each time he expressed a slightly different understanding of
the event, underscoring his unique sensitivity to the minute but fascinating variations
that can be found in even the most mundane, repetitive activities. Ter Borch first
approached the theme in a painting of about 1650 or slightly earlier, now known only
through copies.[2] The composition shows a woman seated at her dressing table with a

Fig 2. Attributed to Gerard ter Borch,
The Duet, ca. 1669, oil on canvas, 82.5
x 72 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv.
1900, Erich Lessing / Art Resource,NYsmall dog in her lap. She peers at her reflected image in a mirror supported by ayoung boy, as she and her maid coax her long blond locks into some intricate
coiffure. Woman Seated at Her Toilet incorporates most of the same elements but
reverses the orientation of the figures and omits the young boy.
Woman Seated at Her Toilet is most closely related to Ter Borch’s A Lady Dressing
Her Hair, of about 1657–58 in the Wallace Collection in London (fig 1). The basic
compositional elements are identical in both pictures: a woman seated at a plushcovered dressing table with her maid standing just behind, and a massive marble
chimneypiece in the left background. In Woman Seated at Her Toilet, the costume ofthe seated woman has been modified slightly and a small table was added at the lower
right. The figure of the maid is no longer in profile, but turned three-quarters to theFig 3. Detail showing painted
monogram and wax seal on reverseof A Woman Seated at Her
Toilet, GB-107

viewer, her head bent to the task of combing her mistress’s long hair. The
composition has been expanded on all sides, effectively distancing the figures fromthe picture plane. By making this small adjustment, the artist of this work replaced
the disarming intimacy of the Wallace Collection picture with a cool detachment that
supports the changes he made in the figures themselves. Whereas in the Wallace
Collection picture the maid seems to chatter gaily to the woman seated before her,
here she seems more subservient, more distant, engaging less with her mistress andthe viewer. Her downturned face masks her expression, introducing a degree of
ambiguity.
Gudlaugsson described Woman Seated at Her Toilet as a relatively late work by Ter
Borch, of about 1670,[3] constituting a reprise of a subject that had occupied him atleast a dozen years before. It seems more likely, however, that the picture is a roughly
contemporary variation of the Wallace Collection’s A Lady Dressing Her Hair. The
woman’s costume (specifically her red jacket) and hairstyle are more in keeping withstyles of the late 1650s; furthermore, the marble chimneypiece appears in other© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Woman Seated at Her Toilet
Page 4 of 9paintings by Ter Borch of the late 1650s (including fig. 1), but not in any autographworks from around 1670. Although the elongated proportions of the figures in
Woman Seated at Her Toilet—the slim ovoid heads, narrow shoulders, and attenuatedlimbs—are seen in a few other genre paintings ascribed to this period, for example
The Duet in the Louvre, dated about 1669 (fig 2), they appear less gracefully
integrated here. This weakness, as well as the simplistic modeling of the draperies andthe overly sharp contours of the figures against the background, suggest that Woman
Seated at Her Toilet was produced by a member of Ter Borch’s studio rather than by
the master himself.
Woman Seated at Her Toilet is generally in good condition, although the dark
background is somewhat worn and some pigments (notably the dark blue of the
maid’s apron) appear to have deteriorated. The rather flat appearance of the woman’s
red jacket may result from the loss of the thin glazes typically applied atop the paintlayer to shade and model forms. On the back of the panel is a red wax collection seal,
which, though fragmentary, bears an impression of a crenellated tower on a shieldborne aloft by two griffins, motifs belonging to the arms of the Neufville family in
the Netherlands.[4] There is also a painted insignia incorporating the initials GSI,
which has not yet been identified (fig 3).

- Marjorie E. Wieseman, 2017

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Endnotes
1. See Eric Jan Sluijter, “Een stuck waerin een jufr voor de spiegel van Gerrit Douw,” Antiek 23 (1988):
150–61.
2. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:95–96, no. 76; sale, Brussels,
9 March 1953, no. 93.
3. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:212.
4. See A. C. de Neufville, Histoire généalogique de la maison de Neufville (Amsterdam, 1869), 193ff.

Provenance
Robbert de Neufville, Leiden (his sale, Haak, Leiden, 15 March 1736, no. 9 [for 42 florins]).
Nicolaas Nieuhoff, Amsterdam (his sale, Van der Schey-de Winter-Yver, Amsterdam, 14 April 1777,
no. 29 [for 800 florins to Fouquet]).
[M. Antoine-Charles Dulac, Paris (sale, Chariot-Paillet, Paris, 30 November 1778, no. 240 [for 1,960
livres to Dubois])].
Jan Jansz Gildemeester, Amsterdam (his sale, Van der Schley, Amsterdam, 11 June 1800, no. 29 [for255 florins to B. Kooy]).
Arend van der Werff van Zuidland, Dordrecht (his sale, Versteegh, Dordrecht, 31 July 1811, no. 111[for 140 florins to Meulemans for Van der Werff of Haarlem]).
Chevalier Sébastian Érard (1752–1831), Château de la Muette, Passy (his sale, Henry-Lacoste, Paris, 23
April 1832 [date of sale changed to 7–14 August 1832], no. 154 [for 2,000 francs to Henry (bought in)];sale Érard et al., Christie’s, London, 22 June 1833, no. 9 [bought in at £65.2]). [1]G. de Poulton Nicholson, Berlin (his sale, Lepke, Berlin, 8 April 1924, no. 70 [for 20,500 marks]). [2][Steinmeyer, Lucerne, 1924; S. Bolton, London, 1925; Böhler and Steinmeyer, New York, 1929].
(Sale, Sir George Vernon et al., Puttick & Simpson, London, 27 November 1929, no. 44 [as “Property
of a Gentleman” (W. G. Eden); £15 to Cooper (bought in)]).
(Sale, Lord Dewar et al., Puttick & Simpson, London, 28 May 1930, no. 108 [property of W. G. Eden;£6.60 to Ede (bought in)]).
Hershel V. Jones (1861–1928), Minneapolis; by descent to Mrs. Hershel V. Jones, New York (sale,
Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet, New York, 18 April 1940, no. 57; for $1,900 to D. W. Cooper]).
D. W. Cooper; by descent to Elizabeth C. Dunham (sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 8 October 1993, no.
178A.
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Private collection (sale, Christie’s, London, 6 December 2007, no. 55 [Johnny Van Haeften, London,
2007]).
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2007.

Provenance Notes

1. The present painting was among those withdrawn from sale by Érard’s nephew, Pierre-Orphée Érard, tobe offered for sale in London in hopes of achieving a better price; see Anik Devries, “Sébastien Érard,
un amateur d’art du début du XIXe siècle et ses conseillers,” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 123 (1981): 84.
2. Gudlaugsson (Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. [The Hague, 1959–60], 2:212) recorded
the painting in the collection of Dr. Wolffenberg, Berlin, in 1924; however, as Adolf and Gustav
Wolffenberg were co-owners of Lepke’s auction house at the time, this reference may simply indicatethat he saw the painting at the auctioneers’ prior to the sale.

Exhibition History
Detroit Institute of Arts, “Ninth Loan Exhibition of Dutch Genre and Landscape Painting,” 16October–10 November 1929, no. 72 (lent by Böhler and Steinmeyer, New York).

References
Hoet, Gerard. Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen. 2 vols. The Hague, 1752, 1: 458, no. 9.
Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French
Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829–42, 4:123, no. 17, as probably a copy after Ter Borch.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of
the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translated by Edward G. Hawke, 5:27, no. 65. 8 vols. London, 1907–28. Originally published as Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis
der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. Esslingen andParis, 1907–28.
Von Bode, Wilhelm.

“Kunsthistorische Ausbeute aus dem deutschen Kunsthandel von Heute.”

Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 46, no. 1 (1925): 117–18, fig. 5.
Donath, Adolph. “Der Kunstmarkt 1923/24.” Jahrbuch für Kunstsammler, nos. 4–5 (1925): 103–4, fig.
38.
Valentiner, Wilhelm. R. Ninth Loan Exhibition of Dutch Genre and Landscape Painting. Exh. cat.
Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1929, xvii, no. 72.
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Gudlaugsson, Sturla, J. Geraert ter Borch. 2 vols. The Hague, 1959–60, 1:365, fig. 234; 2:142 (under
no. 127), 211–14, no. 234.
Ingamells, John. The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Pictures, IV: Dutch and Flemish. London, 1992,
39.

Versions
Versions and Copies
1. Gerard ter Borch, A Lady at Her Toilet, ca. 1657–58, oil on panel, 35 x 25 cm, Wallace Collection,
London, no. 235. Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent
Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, 8 vols. (London, 1907–27),translated from Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen
Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28), 5:22–23, no. 48; Sturla J.
Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:141–42, no. 127.

2. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on panel, 31 x 25 or 53 x 40 cm, formerly H.
Reinhardt Galleries, New York, 1925; sale, Charles Stokvis, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 17
November 1947, no. 107 (this sale is not noted in Gudlaugsson). Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter
Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:212, no. 234a (as possibly identical to Cornelis Hofstede deGroot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century
Based on the Work of John Smith, 8 vols. [London, 1907–27], translated from Beschreibendes und
kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10
vols. [Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28], 5:26, no. 60a).

3. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on canvas, 57 x 47 cm, formerly private
collection, Basel, 1957; (possibly) sale, Christies, London, 10 July 1992, no. 142 (as follower of Ter
Borch). Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:213, no. 234a.
Composition expanded at left and right sides.

4. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on canvas, 43 x 35.5 cm, sale J. Witsen,
Amsterdam, 16 August 1790, no. 9 (for fl. 41 to Coclers); present whereabouts unknown. Cornelis
Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of theSeventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, 8 vols. (London, 1907–27), translated from
Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des
XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28), 5:27, under no. 65; Sturla J. Gudlaugsson,
Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:213, no. 234b (as possibly identical with one or moreof the other versions listed).

5. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on canvas, 48.5 x 40 cm, formerly G.
Neumans, Paris, 1912. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:213,© 2024 The Leiden Collection

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no. 234c. Hofstede de Groot considered this genuine, but dirty and possibly overpainted. Possibly
identical to Version 4, 6, or 7.

6. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, monogrammed GTB lower right, oil on canvas,
46 x 36 cm, sale Mme la Marquise d’Aoust, Lair-Dubreuil and Féral, Paris, 5 June 1924, no. 96 (asattributed to Ter Borch); current whereabouts unknown. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols.
(The Hague, 1959–60), 2:213, no. 234d (possibly identical to Version 4, 5, or 7). Seen by Hofstede deGroot and judged genuine, but completely overpainted.

7. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on canvas, 48.5 x 40 cm, formerly M.
Knoedler & Co., New York, ca. 1940. With modifications to hairstyle and chimneypiece. Sturla J.
Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:213, no. 234e (as workshop; possibly
identical to Version 4, 5, or 6).

8. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm, sale Sotheby’s,London, 8 July 1981, no. 99; sale, Koller, Zürich, 3–4 June 1983, no. 5018. (possibly) Cornelis Hofstede
de Groot, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the SeventeenthCentury Based on the Work of John Smith, 8 vols. (London, 1907–27), translated from Beschreibendes
und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts,
10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris, 1907–28), 5:20, no. 43; Eduard Plietzsch, Gerard ter Borch (Vienna,1944), 50, under no. 67 (as variant of the Wallace Collection painting); Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert
ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:213, no. 234f (as workshop), enlarged composition.

9. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on canvas, 78 x 67 cm, formerly private
collection, Switzerland, 1955. Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60),
2:213–14, no. 234g, enlarged composition.

10. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on canvas, measurements unknown, sale D.
N. Teengs, Monnikendam, 23 September 1824, no. 11. Cornelis Hofstede de Groot, A Catalogue
Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Workof John Smith, 8 vols. (London, 1907–27), translated from Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis derWerke der hervorragendsten höllandischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, 10 vols. (Esslingen and Paris,
1907–28), 5:26, no. 61; Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:214,
no. 234h (as possibly identical to his no. 234f or 234g, our Versions 8 and 9).

11. After Gerard ter Borch, A Woman Seated at Her Toilet, oil on panel, 53 x 40.5 cm, formerly Galerie
Koller, Zürich, 1966; sale, Moharishuis, Arnhem, 24–29 November 1968, no. 146.

12. After Gerard ter Borch, Woman Dressing Her Hair, with a Maid, support and dimensions unknown, sale,
Zeger Hasebroek, Leiden, 26 April 1763, no. 124 (“Een Dame, die haar Paleert, met haar Dienstmaagd,
naar Ter Burg”). Sturla J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert ter Borch, 2 vols. (The Hague, 1959–60), 2:212, under
no. 234.

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Technical Summary
The support, a single plank of vertically grained but horizontally oriented rectangular-shaped oak, has bevels
along the upper and lower sides only.[1] The panel is unthinned and uncradled and has no machine tool marks.
There is one red wax collection seal, one import stamp, a stencil, three labels, and a hand-painted cross but
no panel maker’s mark.
A light gray-colored ground has been thinly and evenly applied. The paint has been built up in successive thinlayers, light over dark, allowing the darker layers beneath the flesh tones to show through. Delicate dots oflight add highlights along the figure’s skirt, earrings, and pearl necklace on the table.
No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. The images andpentimenti indicate minor compositional changes during the paint stage. The fingers of the figure’s proper
right hand have been uncurled, the palm has been shifted closer to the figure, and the elbow has been raised.
The painting is unsigned and undated.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2008 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. The characterization of the wood is based on visual examination only.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection