The Music Lesson, c.1668 Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Gerard ter Borch also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting The Music Lesson is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

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The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

The woman’s satin skirt catches the light in long, silvery folds, while her companion’s face remains shaded beneath his broad black hat. His outstretched hand hovers above the table, marking the beat as she plays. In The Music Lesson, painted around 1668, Gerard ter Borch gives this small gesture almost as much weight as the gleaming dress: it connects the two figures without their eyes meeting.

She turns toward the open music book, her lute held across her body. A blue ribbon ties back her hair, and the warm red of her jacket stands out against the room’s gray-green walls. The table, covered in a heavy green cloth, separates the musicians from an empty stretch of wall on the left. A cello lies across its far end. Behind the woman, a bed recedes into shadow; at the opposite side, a wooden door stands partly open. The room feels private, but not entirely closed off.

Much of the pleasure lies in the differences between surfaces. The jacket’s velvet absorbs light where the satin sends it sliding along creases and folds. Thick white fur softens the edges of the red garment. Nearby, the green table covering hangs in weighty, angular folds, while the cello’s orange-brown wood brings warmth to the left side. Ter Borch gives each material its own character without letting these small attractions break the room’s stillness.

Is this simply a lesson? The man may be her teacher, but music also carries associations with courtship. The Dutch poet Jacob Cats linked love’s endurance to music and festivity, an idea that helps explain the scene’s possible undertone. The foot warmer low in the left corner is a symbol of love, and the bed adds to the possibility of an amorous encounter. Nothing settles the question. His gesture can remain instruction, or become part of a more personal exchange.

On the foreground chair, a dog curls up with its head resting on the cushion. Its loose, wavy coat offers another quiet contrast to the woman’s carefully arranged clothes. Whatever passes between the musicians, the dog has no reason to stir.