Horse Stable

Object Details

Title:

Horse Stable

Artist/Maker(s):

Gerard ter Borch (Dutch, 1617 - 1681)

Culture:

Dutch

Date:

about 1654

Medium:

Oil on panel

Dimensions:

45.4 x 53.5 cm (17 7/8 x 21 1/16 in.)

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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
- 1765

Possibly N [sold, N sale, v.d. Eyk, Leiden, June 1, 1765, lot 12.]

- 1771

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

1771 -

Nyman

- 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

- 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 (Kulla Gunnarstorp, Skane, Sweden), by inheritance to his wife, Amelie, 1794.

1794-1830

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

1830-1833

Count Gustaf Adolf Frederik de la Gardie, 1800 - 1833, by inheritence to his father, Count Jakob Gustaf de la Gardie.

1833-1837

Count Jakob Gustaf de la Gardie, Swedish, 1768 - 1842

1837 - 1855

Count Carl de Geer, 1781 - 1861 (Leufst, Sweden), by inheritance to his granddaughter, Elizabeth Wachtmeister, 1855.

1855-1918

Countess Elizabeth (von Platen) Wachtmeister, 1834 - 1918 (Wanas, Sweden), by descent within the Wachtmeister family.

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
Gerard Ter Borch Zwolle 1617 Deventer 1681 (March 9 to June 23, 1974)
  • Mauritshuis, (The Hague), March 9 to April 28, 1974, (Cat. 31)
  • Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, (Munster), May 12 to June 23, 1974, (Cat. 31)
Gerard ter Borch (November 7, 2004 to September 4, 2005)
  • National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), November 7, 2004 to January 30, 2005, (Cat. 26)
  • The Detroit Institute of Arts, (Detroit), February 28 to May 22, 2005, (Cat. 26)
  • Rijksmuseum, (Amsterdam), June 9 to September 4, 2005, (Cat. 26)
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.

Rémy, Paris. Catalogue des tableaux, desseins, terres-cuites, marbres, bronzes [...] de Monseigneur le Prince de Conty par P. Remy. April 8, 1777, p. 243, lot 832.

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

Jaffé, David. Summary Catalogue of European Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1997), p. 12, ill.

The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Collections. 6th ed. (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2001), p. 124, ill.