The Duet

Gerard Ter Borch made many paintings of ambiguous love encounters between elegantly dressed people in rich interiors. This late example shows a man playing the lute. He may be a client, music partner, or suitor of the woman opposite him playing the more unusual two-necked instrument called a theorbo.

The man standing between the couple may be a musical instructor but it is unclear; his presence adds to the uncertain nature of the couple's relationship. The woman's dress shows ter Borch's skill at rendering shimmering satin and soft fur. A painter of portraits and genre scenes, ter Borch specialised in reproducing the luxurious fabrics and interiors of well-to-do 17th-century Dutch society.

There is an earlier version of this composition in the Toledo Art Museum that is signed and dated to the 1660s (52.9). It seems that Ter Borch copied the composition several years later, probably because it proved popular with his patrons who could enjoy puzzling over its meaning. The versions at Waddesdon and Toledo are very close. There are some minor variations in the far contours of the lute player's face, perhaps a result of overpainting. The Toledo painting is also 3 to 4 cm larger than the Waddesdon version which may have been cut down at some point. Other paintings by ter Borch in Cincinnati Art Museum (1927.421); J. Paul Getty Museum (97.PA.47); and the National Gallery, London (NG864), attest to the popularity of the theme of the music-making couple and the attendant man.

This was one of a number of paintings that Ferdinand de Rothschild acquired from the celebrated Six collection in Amsterdam. The painting was originally in the collection of Pieter van Winter. Several paintings from the Van Loon collection now at Waddesdon were also once in this collection.

Phillippa Plock, 2011