Geesken had a younger brother called Moses. Despite an age gap of 14 years, they were soul mates. From early childhood, Moses proved highly talented. He and Geesken probably often worked at the same table, drawing. The portraits they made of each other through the years render their bond almost tangible.
to continue
click on the right arrow
Selfportrait, 1661
Moses accompanied to his grave by Death
Geesken herself pasted this poem into her album. So there may be some truth to it ...
Suddenly, it stops
Geesken started her third album very ambitiously. It contains her best work. But then, suddenly, it stops. Overnight, her artistry seems to have come to an end. She wrote not a word about this decision. So we can only guess why. Perhaps Moses's death was the reason for her abrupt career end: drawing and painting may have lost all meaning with her little brother gone.
Here is depicted a damsel beautiful
Whose virtues, honour and art cannot be praised enough:
And when one sees the products of her brushes
Who can help but wonder?
It seems that Pallas has taken such firm hold
That Venus nor her son dare even come close:
She elects to be free, all her desire only for art
And so she lives, as she wishes, alone
In peace and quiet
From the Family Scrapbook, 1661
Hier siet men afgebeelt, een Juffer schoon van wesen,
Haer Deuchden, eer en konst, wort nooyt genoegh gepresen:
En als men siet wat zij met haer pincelen doet,
Wie isser die sich dan niet seer verwond'ren moet?
Het schijnt dat Pallas, haer so vast heeft aengenomen,
Dat Venus noch haer soon, niet eens by haer mach komen:
Sy kiest een vreye staet, tot konst streckt al haer lust,
Dies leeft zij na haer wensch, eensaem in
vreed' en rust.
Uit het familieplakboek, 1661
Gesina in love
Geesken fell madly in love, several times in fact. We don't know why in the end she chose not to get married. Family friend Roldanus had his thoughts, though. He wrote a poem, accompanying a beautiful self-portrait by Geesken:
Gesina ter Borch
after Hans Holbein 2
The death of Moses
To Geesken’s intense sorrow Moses died while still young. He joined as a combatant in the Second Dutch-English War and in 1667 died near Harwich. Her mourning for this loss is clear from the many pages she dedicated to Moses's death. In several watercolours she tried to visualize the Battle of Harwich at which Moses was killed, grinning skeletons awaiting him on the beach. And it is revealing that the two oil paintings by Geesken that have survived are posthumous portraits of Moses.
an animation opera
page 2