't Is loflijck dat een mans-persoon,
Wel leert veel goede consten schoon,
Maer 't is noch meerder prijsens weert,
Dat dochters hebben soo geleert,
[…]
Waerom en souden dochters niet,
Gelijck men hier en elders siet,
Tot const te leeren sijn bequaem?
Dat haer maeckt een vermaerde naem,
Uit het familieplakboek, 1658
It is praiseworthy that a man
Should learn many fine arts
But it is even more praiseworthy
For daughters to do so
[…]
Why should not a daughter,
As one sees here and there,
Be capable of learning the arts?
This would make her name famous.
From the family scrapbook, 1658
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But it is in her albums that Geesken really comes to life, the three books in which she drew and painted to her heart's content and in which we can see her artistic development. She was inspired by the top music hits of her time and also reflected on life’s ups and downs. Geesken was proud of her albums; she showed them to her friends and family, and if she liked you enough you might be invited to write something in them. They are a bit like modern friendship verses albums, but their drawings and watercolours are those of a well-trained artist: Geesken herself. She was an excellent illustrator. In her quasi-naive style she cut straight to the core of each song or poem. Her work is funny, daring, moving and mysterious. Behind her tableaus, which are amusing at first sight, a deeper world waits to be discovered.
Death and Aeltien,
Family Scrapbook,
Col. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Geesken reading a loveletter,
still from Geesken
Death accompanies
Most surprising are her drawings and watercolours in which Death accompanies someone from Geesken's circle to their grave. She shows him as a live skeleton, but he isn't scary. Rather, he seems a kind friend who helps us on our way to a better world.
collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Gesina as a model
We know well what Geesken ter Borch looked like. She modelled in many paintings by her brother Gerard II. Either dressed in simple peasant girl's garb or in the flowing silk robes of a high-class lady, she always and unmistakeably is Gerard's pretty younger sister. She may read or write a letter, play the lute, receive a lover, or sip from a glass of wine. We find her in numerous little everyday scenes from 17th century life. Geesken's image stays with you. She was pretty, expressive and as far as we can tell likeable and intelligent.
Battle at Harwich - Still from Geesken
This is a fragment of a poem written by family friend Joost Roldanus in one of the three albums of Gesina (Geesken) ter Borch. Roldanus knew Geesken's talent and considered it praiseworthy that she was given the chance to develop it. There was no lack of talent in the Ter Borch family, of the Dutch city of Zwolle. The father, Gerard, had been a painter and taught his children to draw and paint. Especially Geesken's elder brother, Gerard II, developed into a successful artist. And, exceptionally in the 17th century, her father also trained his daughter Geesken. The road seemed clear for her to become an independent artist. And yet this promise was never realized.
animation opera by
Wim Trompert & Camerata Trajectina