The J. Paul Getty Museum

Horse Stable

Object Details

Title:

Horse Stable

Artist/Maker:

Gerard ter Borch (Dutch, 1617 - 1681)

Culture:

Dutch

Date:

about 1654

Medium:

Oil on panel

Object Number:

86.PB.631

Dimensions:

45.4 × 53.5 cm (17 7/8 × 21 1/16 in.)

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Object Description

A dappled gray horse feeds at a manger while a man brushes his coat. A horse blanket and bridle hang from a pole in the foreground and other barnyard utensils--a pitchfork, broom, and pail--fill the stable. To the right, a fashionably dressed woman appears at a doorway that connects to the main farmhouse. Light from the open doorway illuminates the animal, the painting's center of attention.

Domestic animals like this carefully groomed horse would have been valued possessions of their prosperous owners during the 1600s in Holland. Clues such as the orderly and well-built stable and the woman's handsome dress and jewelry indicate that this was a well-to-do middle-class household.

Gerard ter Borch's paintings are noted for their subtlety of composition, close attention to detail, and delicate color. In Horse Stable he used a palette of warm browns and grays, brightened by the red accents of the man's hat, the woman's skirt, and the bricks on the left-hand wall.

Provenance
Provenance
- 1765

Possibly N [sold, N sale, v.d. Eyk, Leiden, June 1, 1765, lot 12.]
Source: Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen [...], vol. 3 (1770), p. 447.

- 1771

Private Collection [sold, Henrik de Winter & Jan Yver, Amsterdam, August 14, 1771, lot 3, possibly to Nyman.]
Note: as Metsu

1771 -

Nyman
Source: Bibliotheque nationale de France annotated sale catalogue, Catalogus Van een Fraay Kabinetje met konstige Schilderyen, voor het grootste gedeelte, der voornaamste Nederlandsche, en ook eenige der beste Fransche, en Italiaansche Meesters. August 14, 1771.

- 1776

Louis-François de Bourbon, prince de Conti, 1717 - 1776 (Paris, France), upon his death, held in trust by the estate.

1776 - 1777

Estate of Louis-François de Bourbon, prince de Conti, 1717 - 1776 [sold, Conti sale, Rémy, Paris, April 8, 1777, lot 832, to Chevallier de Launay.]

1777 -

Chevallier de Launay
Source: GRI annotated copy of sale catalogue, Catalogue d'une riche collection de tableaux de Monseigneur le Prince de Conty. April 8, 1777, lot 12, "M. Chev. Delaunay."

- 1780

Antoine Poullain, died 1780 (Paris, France) [sold, Poullain sale, Langlier, Paris, March 15, 1780, lot 41, to Count Gustaf Adolph Sparre.]

1780 - 1794

Count Gustaf Adolph Sparre, 1746 - 1794 (Gothenburg, Sweden; Kulla Gunnarstorp, Skane, Sweden), by inheritance to his wife, Amelie (Ramel) Sparre, 1794.

1794-1830

Countess Amelie (Ramel) Sparre, 1753 - 1830 (Gothenburg Sweden; Kulla Gunnarstorp, Skane, Sweden), by inheritance to her grandson, Count Gustaf Adolf Frederik de la Gardie, 1830.

1830-1833

Count Gustaf Adolf Frederik de la Gardie, 1800 - 1833 (Kulla Gunnarstorp, Skane, Sweden), by inheritance to his father, Count Jakob Gustaf de la Gardie, 1833.

1833-1837

Count Jakob Gustaf de la Gardie, Swedish, 1768 - 1842 (Kulla Gunnarstorp, Skane, Sweden), sold to Count Carl de Geer with the sale of the estate Kulla Gunnarstorp in 1837, or by 1840.

1837 - 1855

Count Carl de Geer, Swedish, 1781 - 1861 (Kulla Gunnarstorp, Skane, Sweden; Leufst, Sweden), by inheritance to his granddaughter, Elizabeth (von Platen) Wachtmeister, 1855.
Source: Collectors File (Profile).

1855-1918

Countess Elizabeth (von Platen) Wachtmeister, Swedish, 1834 - 1918 (Wanas, Sweden), by inheritance within the Wachtmeister family.
Source: Collectors File (Profile).

by 1958 - 1978

Count Gustav Axel Wachtmeister, 1887 - 1978 (Wanas, Sweden)

1978- around 1980

Wachtmeister Family

1981

Edward Speelman, Ltd. (London, England), sold to Fellowship of Friends, 1981.

1981 - 1986

Fellowship of Friends, Inc. (Renaissance, California), sold through Marco Grassi (New York, New York) to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1986.

Exhibitions
Exhibitions
Gerard Ter Borch: Zwolle 1617 Deventer 1681 (March 9 to June 23, 1974)
  • Mauritshuis (The Hague), March 9 to April 28, 1974
  • Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster (Munster), May 12 to June 23, 1974
Gerard ter Borch (November 7 to September 4, 2005)
  • National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), November 7, 2004 to January 30, 2005
  • The Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit), February 28 to May 22, 2005
  • Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), June 9 to September 4, 2005
Bibliography
Bibliography

Hoet, Gerard. Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelver prysen [...]. Pieter Terwesten, ed. Vol. 3 (The Hague: Johannes Gaillard, 1770), p. 447, lot 12 (Extract uit een Catalogus van Schilderyen. Verkogt den 1 Junii 1765. binnen Leyden).

Winter, Yver, Amsterdam. Catalogus Van een Fraay Kabinetje met konstige Schilderyen, voor het grootste gedeelte, der voornaamste Nederlandsche, en ook eenige der beste Fransche, en Italiaansche Meesters. August 14, 1771, p. 2, lot 3.

Pierre Rémy, Paris. Catalogue d'une riche collection de tableaux [...] de Monseigneur le Prince de Conty. April 8, 1777, p. 243, lot 832.

Le Brun, Jean-Baptiste-Pierre. Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, dessins, estampes, figures de bronze et de marbre [...] qui composoient le cabinet de feu M. Poullain [...]. March 15-17, 1780, pp. 19-20, lot 41.

Basan, François. Collection de cent-vingt estampes, gravées d'apres les tableaux & dessins qui composoient le Cabinet de M. Poullain, Receveur Général des Domaines du Roi, décédé en 1780 (Paris: Chez Basan et Poignant, 1781), p. 19, no. 103.

Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters [...]. 9 vols. (London: Smith and Son, 1829-42), vol. 4 (1833), p. 125, no. 21.

Blanc, Charles. Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles: École hollandaise. 2 vols. (Paris: Vve. Jules Renouard, 1863), vol. 1, p. 16.

Granberg, Olof. Catalogue raisonné de tableaux anciens inconnus jusqu'ici dans les collections privées de la Suède (Stockholm: Samson & Wallin, 1886), p. 22, no. 36.

Michel, Émile. Les artistes célèbres: Gérard Terburg (Ter Borch) et sa famille (Paris: Librairie de l'art, 1887), pp. 37-38.

Göthe, Georg. Tafvelsamlingen på Wanås (Stockholm: Iduns Tryckeri Aktiebolag, 1895), pp. 28, 70, no. 69, ill.

Hellens, Franz. Gérard Terborch (Brussels: G. Van Oest & Cie., 1911), p. 126.

Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts. 10 vols. (Esslingen a. N.: Paul Neff Verlag, 1907-28), vol. 5 (1912), p. 144, no. 464.

Granberg, Olof. Inventaire général des trésors d'art: peintures & sculptures, principalement de maîtres étrangers (non scandinaves) en Suède. 3 vols. (Stockholm: Cederquists grafiska aktiebolag, 1911-13), vol. 2 (1912), p. 1, no. 2, fig. 4.

Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century, Based on the Works of John Smith. Edward G. Hawke, ed. and trans. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1908-27), vol. 5 (1913), p. 141, no. 464.

Pleitzsch, Eduard. Gerard Ter Borch (Vienna: Verlag Anton Schroll & Co., 1944), pp. 13-14, 43, no. 33, fig. 33.

Gudlaugsson, Sturla J. Gerard Ter Borch. 2 vols. (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1959-60), vol. 1 (1959), pp. 96, 266, no. 109, ill.

Gudlaugsson, Sturla J. Gerard Ter Borch. 2 vols. (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1959-60), vol. 2 (1960), pp. 115-16, no. 109.

Gerson, Horst. Review of Gerard Ter Borch. Munster. Kunstchronik 27, no. 11 (November 1974), p. 375.

Hasselgren, Ingmar. "Konstsamlaren Gustaf Adolf Sparre 1746-1794: Hans studieresa, vaning och konstsamling i Göteborg." Ph.D. diss. (University of Gottenburg, 1974), pp. 191, 199, no. G. 69, ill.

Hoetink, H. R., and G. Langemeyer, eds. Gerard Ter Borch: Zwolle 1617-Deventer 1681, exh. cat. (The Hague: Mauritshuis, 1974), pp. 124-25, no. 31, ill.

Artemis 80-81: Consolidated Audited Annual Report (Luxemburg: Artemis Société Anonyme, 1981), pp. 24-25, ill.

Haak, Bob. The Golden Age: Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984), p. 398, fig. 859.

Sutton, Peter C., et al, eds. Masters of Seventeenth Century Genre Painting, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1984), p. 143n1.

Young, Eric. "Old Master Paintings in the Collection of the Fellowship of Friends at Renaissance, California." Apollo 121, no. 280 (June 1985), pp. 375-76, fig. xi.

Sutton, Peter C. A Guide to Dutch Art in America (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1986), p. 143.

Sutton, Peter. "The Noblest of Livestock." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 15 (1987), pp. 97-110, fig. 1.

Hasselgréen, Ingmar. "Konstsamlaren Gustaf Adolf Sparre och Sparreska våningen i Göteborg." Konsthistorisk tidskrift 57, no. 3-4 (1988), p. 143.

Hecht, Peter. "Het veranderende beeld Nederlandse schilderkunst in Washington en Malibu." Kunstschrift 34, no. 5 (September-October 1990), pp. 26, 29, fig. 21.

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Cornelis, Bart. Review of Gerard Ter Borch. Washington, D. C. Burlington Magazine 147, no. 1226 (May 2005), p. 356, fig. 69.

Wetering, Ernst van de. "Gerard Ter Borch en zijn atelier." Kunstschift 49, no. 3 (June-July 2005), pp. 25-26, fig. 47.

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Fredericksen, Burton B. The Burdens of Wealth: Paul Getty and His Museum (Bloomington: Archway Publishing, 2015), pp. 217, 241.

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