Heer liggend op de grond c. 1659

This is a page from Gesina ter Borch’s visual and literary commonplace book, made in the Dutch Republic, sometime in the mid-17th century. It’s ink and watercolor on paper. The most immediate aspect of this page is, of course, the script; its graceful, flowing lines are the result of immense calligraphic skill. Ter Borch carefully controlled the consistency of her ink, the angle of her pen, and the pressure of her hand, all to create this beautiful effect. She obviously had good manual dexterity. But it's the combination of handwriting and image that makes this page special. The watercolor sketch at the bottom is charmingly naïve, and also directly responsive to the poem above. It's a kind of ‘illuminated manuscript’ made personal, and deeply intimate. In this work, Ter Borch is participating in a tradition that valued both writing and drawing as essential social graces. It reminds us that "art" in this period had a much broader definition, encompassing both the literary and the visual.