Accession Number
112344
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and gray wash, with traces of graphite, over traces of black chalk (recto), and red and black chalk (verso), on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
13.4 × 17.5 cm (5 5/16 × 6 15/16 in.)
Classification
ink or chalk wash
Credit Line
The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
Background & Context
Background Story
Gerard ter Borchs The Charlatan is a double-sided drawing that exemplifies the Dutch Golden Age masters consummate skill as a draftsman on both sides of a single sheet, depicting a charlatan or quack doctor on the recto and two standing figures on the verso. Ter Borch, who is best known for his small-scale genre paintings of elegant interior scenes, was also a prolific and accomplished draftsman whose drawings reveal the compositional and observational foundations of his painted work. The charlatan subject belongs to the tradition of Dutch genre painting that depicted street vendors, quack doctors, and other marginal figures as subjects for moral commentary on gullibility and deception. Ter Borch renders the charlatan with the same attentive observation he brought to his finest interior scenes: the figures pose, costume, and expression are all recorded with a specificity that suggests a study from life rather than an invention from imagination. The pen and brown ink with gray wash on the recto creates a tonal range that approaches the subtlety of his paintings in grisaille, while the red and black chalk on the verso demonstrates his mastery of the academic drawing tradition in which he was trained. The double-sided format, common in 17th-century drawing practice, provides a rare opportunity to see two aspects of the same artists working method on a single sheet.
Cultural Impact
Ter Borchs drawings are essential documents for understanding the working methods of one of the finest Dutch genre painters, revealing the observational foundation that underlies his seemingly effortless elegance. The charlatan subject connects his work to the broader tradition of Dutch moralizing genre painting that extended from Brouwer to Steen.
Why It Matters
A double-sided drawing by ter Borch depicting a charlatan on the recto in pen and ink with gray wash and standing figures on the verso in red and black chalk, revealing the observational and compositional foundations of the Dutch Golden Age masters elegant genre paintings.
