This absorbing monograph is the first to detail the captivating life and oeuvre of the Dutch artist Gesina ter Borch. Gesina ter Borch (1631–1690), a Dutch watercolorist and draftswoman—and the younger half-sister of painter Gerard ter Borch (1617–1681)—is one of the most well-known women artists of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. Her oeuvre is securely attributed and thoroughly catalogued, with three albums of her watercolors and calligraphy known today; surprisingly, though, she has never been the subject of an independent monograph or sustained discussion. This volume is the first to highlight her watercolors and calligraphy in their own right, alongside documentation of her work as an art teacher, archivist, and artist’s model. Adam Eaker revisits Ter Borch’s role during the genesis of Dutch “high-life” genre painting and, in doing so, examines the construction of gender and social classes by comparing her art with that of her brother. In this monograph, Eaker questions a historiography of women’s art that frequently valorizes painting over other media and values work for the market over “amateur” production. Gesina ter Borch offers a fascinating exploration of Ter Borch’s life and work and a more nuanced understanding of the ideologies and achievements of Dutch genre painting.

This richly illustrated book provides an overview of all known Dutch and Flemish artists up to the nineteenth century, who painted or drew flower pieces, or else made prints of them.

Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681) was unequalled among his Dutch peers for capturing the elegance & grace of wealthy Dutch society in his portraiture. A major influence on Vermeer, ter Borch has not received the attention he deserves & this is the first major English language text about his work.

"Early European art was a consuming interest of both Robert Lehman and his father, Philip Lehman, an interest reflected in the remarkable number and quality of drawings they owned from the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. In addition to an important group of early German drawings, the collection includes a "Saint Paul" from a series associated with Jan van Eyck and the famous "Scupstoel" from the circle of Rogier van der Weyden, the only design for a decorative sculpture to survive from the fifteenth century. The great artists of the seventeenth century, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Claude Lorrain, and Rembrandt among them, are also represented, Rembrandt by seven drawings, including the large study of Leonardo's "Last Supper" that would stay in his mind all through his career. Drawings by Antoine Watteau, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Thomas Gainsborough, Paul Sandby, and George Romney are among the many from eighteenth-century France and England. The volume discusses all 153 drawings at length, placing each in its art historical setting and complementing the discussion with comparative illustrations of related works." This e-book on the MetPublications website is also accompanied by links to related works and under the "Additional resources"tab are links to Met works of art and Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History essays and timelines (viewed May 1, 2014).

The appealing genre paintings of great seventeenth-century Dutch artists - Vermeer, Steen, de Hooch, Dou and others - have long enjoyed tremendous popularity. This comprehensive book explores the evolution of genre painting throughout the Dutch Golden Age, beginning in the early 1600s and continuing through the opening years of the next century. Wayne Franits, a well-known scholar of Dutch genre painting, offers a wealth of information about these works as well as about seventeenth-century Dutch culture, its predilections and its prejudices. The author approaches genre paintings from a variety of perspectives, examining their reception among contemporary audiences and setting the works in their political, cultural and economic contexts. The works emerge as distinctly conventional images, Franits shows, as genre artists continually replicated specific styles, motifs and a surprisingly restricted number of themes over the course of several generations. Luxuriously illustrated and with a full representation of the major artists and the cities where genre painting flourished, this book will delight students, scholars and general readers alike.