The Messenger, by Gerard ter Borch, circa 1660s

Gerard ter Borch (December 1617, Zwolle – 8 December 1681, Deventer), one of the great Dutch masters of the seventeenth century who specialized in portraits and, especially, genre scenes.  He first studied with his father, Gerard ter Borch the Elder, and was resident in Amsterdam by 1632.  He later traveled to London, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.  While in Spain, he was knighted by King Philip IV but, because of some difficulties there, he was obliged to return to the Netherlands.  He appears to have resided for a time in Haarlem, but finally settled in Deventer, where he became a member of the town council.  He died there at the age of sixty-four.

Like the oeuvre of his younger contemporary Vermeer, comparatively few of his paintings have survived; about eighty have been catalogued.