A Woman Playing the Theorbo-Lute and a Cavalier

Ten years before this, in 1648, ter Borch was in Munster painting the ceremony where Spain finally recognised Dutch independence, ending eighty years of war. By 1658 the soldiers were home, and here one of them sits, a cavalier, his sword laid flat on the table beside him, watching a young woman play the theorbo, a long-necked lute. What passes between them is left deliberately open. She could be an honest young woman or a courtesan, and a songbook, the kind given between lovers, lies within reach. Ter Borch worked these small silences better than almost anyone, dovetailing the two figures so their glances do the talking. A pocket watch rests nearby, the one object reminding you the hour is passing.