Support The oval, brass plate, with a copper-to-zinc ratio of 3:1, is approx. 0.1 cm thick. The front was prepared with sanding grooves (visible in areas of paint loss), in order to facilitate the adhesion of ground and paint layers. The reverse has hammer and rolling marks.
Preparatory layers The double ground extends up to the edges of the support. The first, thin layer is a translucent white, probably consisting of chalk. The second, thickly impasted beige layer contains large lead white particles and scattered earth and black pigment, and was applied with visible, diagonal brushstrokes.
Underdrawing Infrared reflectography clearly revealed scant, very thin lines in a dry medium which indicate the general oval of the face and possibly the sitter’s right eye. Subsequent wider, more abundant, undulating dark lines, applied in what also appears to be a dry medium, delineate the facial features and the locks of hair, and correct the initial contour of the face.
Paint layers The paint extends up to the edge of the support. The thin, loose, rapidly executed composition was built up from the back to the front. A thin, semi-transparent brown undermodelling was applied, leaving a reserve for the figure. It was also used in the face, collar and hair, where it was left exposed in the shadows, for example along the side of the nose. Under infrared examination, the sketchy build-up of the background is particularly evident in the pronounced zigzagging vertical brushstroke at the far right and the halo around the head as a result of the reworking of this area. The paint of the flesh tones (containing vermilion, earth pigments and many black particles) was lightly and thinly applied with blended wet-in-wet strokes. It carefully avoids covering part of the underdrawing, occasionally also leaving the ground visible in those places. An optical grey was prepared where the undermodelling is very thinly covered with the flesh colours. The clothing was prepared in wet-in-wet tones of grey and finished with a black design. The lace pattern of the collar was applied with pastose, white paint. Finally, a dark brown glaze was used to deepen the shadows, modelling the features. Underdrawn and undermodelled strands of hair over the forehead were not followed in the final painting.
Gwen Tauber [publication date 2026]

G. Korevaar and G. Tauber, ‘Gerard ter Borch Repeats: On Autograph Portrait Copies in the Work of Ter Borch (1617-1681)’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 62 (2014), pp. 348-81, esp. pp. 352, 357-59, 377-79, notes 7, 24, 29, 30

Fair. A thin, transparent green layer beneath the ground and a cluster of glassy turquoise-coloured particles, visible in cross-section no. SK-A-3842/1, may be due to a chemical reaction between the copper-containing support and the fatty acids in the ground. The reverse has spots of green copper corrosion. The sandy texture of the paint surface is possibly the result of metal soap formation.

A narrow ascending ebony frame: oval mounted in rectangular surround.¹¹P.J.J. van Thiel and C.J. de Bruyn Kops, Prijst de lijst: De Hollandse schilderijlijst in de zeventiende eeuw, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1984, pp. 58, 118, note 10; C.J. de Bruyn Kops, ‘Researching the Use and Development of the Dutch Picture Frame: Some Practical and Technical Aspects’, in P.J.J. van Thiel and C.J. de Bruyn Kops, Framing in the Golden Age: Picture and Frame in 17th-Century Holland, Zwolle 1995, pp. 55-93, esp. pp. 79, 164, note 10.

? Commissioned by or for the sitter; ? his son, Gerard van Reede (1624-1670), Lord of Nederhorst, Utrecht; ? his daughter, Anna Elisabeth van Reede (1652-1682), Utrecht and Zuylen Castle, Oud-Zuilen; probate inventory, her husband, Hendrik Jacob van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1642-1692), in his house in Utrecht, 1692 (‘twee kleine geschilderde pourtraitjes van de oude heer van Nederhorst in swarte lijsjes’);²²R. Ekkart et al., ‘De portretgalerij van Slot Zuylen: Het karakter van een particuliere portretgalerij’, in A. van der Goes and J. de Meyere (eds.), Op stand aan de wand: Vijf eeuwen familieportretten in Slot Zuylen, coll. cat. Oud-Zuilen 1996, pp. 11-18, esp. p. 14. ? his son, Reinout Gerard van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1677-1729), Zuylen Castle and The Hague and Utrecht; ? his son, Diederik Jacob van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1707-1776), Utrecht and Zuylen Castle; ? his son, Baron Willem René van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1743-1839), Utrecht and Zuylen Castle; ? his son, Baron Carel Emanuel van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1775-1845), Utrecht, Zuylen Castle and The Hague; ? his son, Baron Willem René van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1813-1878), Zuylen Castle; ? his wife, Jonkvrouw Françoise Margaretha van Weede (1823-1899), Zuylen Castle; her distant cousin, Baron Frederik Leopold Samuel Frans van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1858-1934), Zuylen Castle; his son, Baron Frederik Christiaan Constantijn van Tuyll van Serooskerken (1886-1958), Zuylen Castle; from whom, fl. 9,000, to the museum, August 1952

Object number: SK-A-3842

Godard van Reede’s greatest claim to fame is that he was an administrator in the province of Utrecht and as such was engaged in the peace negotiations in Münster in 1646-48. He was a supporter of the House of Orange, extremely pro-French, and stubbornly tried to prevent a treaty with Spain that did not involve France. He left for the talks in 1646, but from mid-July to the end of October he was almost uninterruptedly in the Dutch Republic to defend his controversial standpoint on the proceedings.¹⁰¹⁰He appears to have been in Münster only briefly on 12 September. See J.J. Poelhekke, De vrede van Munster, The Hague 1948, p. 321, note 2. He then remained in Münster for some time. Gudlaugsson wrote that Gerard ter Borch’s portrait probably dates from those closing months of 1646.¹¹¹¹S.J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert Ter Borch, I, The Hague 1959, p. 58. Based on technical evidence, it could have been executed at any time between 1646 and 1648.¹²¹²G. Korevaar and G. Tauber, ‘Gerard ter Borch Repeats: On Autograph Portrait Copies in the Work of Ter Borch (1617-1681)’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 62 (2014), pp. 348-81, esp. p. 357. It is still possible that Ter Borch made a drawing of Van Reede from life when in Münster with the intention of having the composition transferred onto a painting support in preparation for this portrait and another autograph version now in Zuylen Castle near Utrecht.¹³¹³Illustrated in A. van der Goes and J. de Meyere (eds.), Op stand aan de wand: Vijf eeuwen familieportretten in Slot Zuylen, coll. cat. Oud-Zuilen 1996, p. 69. This is however less plausible given the confident lines of variable pressure of the underdrawing in the Rijksmuseum picture that are applied freehand and which were certainly done from life.¹⁴¹⁴G. Korevaar and G. Tauber, ‘Gerard ter Borch Repeats: On Autograph Portrait Copies in the Work of Ter Borch (1617-1681)’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 62 (2014), pp. 348-81, esp. pp. 360-61.

On 21 January 1647 Van Reede explained to the States-General in The Hague why he had not signed the provisional peace agreement on 8 January. He was the only member of the Dutch delegation who refused to do so. On 21 April 1648, however, he appeared in Münster after all, and finally put his signature to the treaty on the orders of the States of Utrecht the following week. Already seriously ill by then, he died less than two months later and was buried in Utrecht Cathedral on 25 June.¹⁵¹⁵For his biography see P.C. Molhuysen et al. (eds.), Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek, III, Leiden 1914, cols. 1025-26; H. Duchhardt, G. Dethlefs and H. Queckenstedt, ‘...zu einem stets währenden Gedächtnis’: Die Friedenssäle in Münster und Osnabrück und ihre Gesandtenporträts, Bramsche 1996, pp. 230-31. For his role in the peace negotiations see J.J. Poelhekke, De vrede van Munster, The Hague 1948, passim; R.E. de Bruin and D.E.A. Faber, Tegen de vrede!: Utrecht en de vredesonderhandelingen in Munster, exh. cat. Utrecht (Centraal Museum; Domkerk) 1998; D.E.A. Faber and R.E. de Bruin, ‘Tegen de vrede: De Utrechtse ambassadeur Godard van Reede van Nederhorst en de onderhandelingen in Munster’, in J. Dane (ed.), Vrede van Munster: Feit en verbeelding, Zwolle 1998, pp. 107-34.

Van Reede did not attend the final peace ceremony in May 1648, which is why he is not included in Ter Borch’s painting of the delegates at the ratification of the Treaty of Münster.¹⁶¹⁶See SK-A-405. However, there is not the slightest doubt about the identity of the sitter, given the similarity to other portraits and likenesses in prints that bear his name.¹⁷¹⁷For the prints see F. Muller, Beschrijvende catalogus van 7000 portretten, van Nederlanders, en van buitenlanders, tot Nederland in betrekking staande, afkomstig uit de collectiën: de Burlett, Verstolk van Soelen, Lamberts, enz., Amsterdam 1853, p. 210, nos. 4396-98. His portrait painted by Anselm van Hulle in 1648 is now in Utrecht, Centraal Museum; illustrated in A.K. Wheelock Jr et al., Gerard ter Borch, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/Detroit (Detroit Institute of Arts) 2004-05, p. 66, fig. 1. It is not clear whether the print by Steven van Lamsweerde of 1649 was made after that painting or Ter Borch’s; see RP-P-1903-A-23550. The Rijksmuseum bust-length is one of a group of oval paintings of both Dutch and Spanish envoys on metal that Ter Borch made during his stay in Münster.¹⁸¹⁸For the identified sitters see S.J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert Ter Borch, II, The Hague 1960, nos. 41, 42, 44-46, 49 (all known from a print by P. Holsteyn), 51. Despite their small size, they are highly individualized and striking likenesses. The support may have been chosen because it was easy to transport, but it could also have been due to the traditional association of this kind of portrait with international court circles.¹⁹¹⁹A. McNeil Kettering, Gerard ter Borch en de Vrede van Munster, exh. cat. The Hague (Mauritshuis) 1998, pp. 35-36. The artist had been working on small formats for some time, and had already made oval portraits.²⁰²⁰See, for example, SK-A-1784 and SK-A-1785. Van Reede’s is one of the few seventeenth-century paintings that still has its original, rectangular ebony frame with an oval opening surrounding the picture.²¹²¹See Original framing.

The Van Reede coat of arms was later added to the top right of the other version of this portrait in Zuylen Castle. Although there are differences in execution, both works are autograph, given the consistency of manner and quality.²²²²S.J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert Ter Borch, II, The Hague 1960, p. 78, no. 47a, calls the latter work a seventeenth-century copy. It is included as original in H.R. Hoetink et al., Gerard Ter Borch: Zwolle 1617-Deventer 1681, exh. cat. The Hague (Mauritshuis)/Münster (Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte) 1974, pp. 74-75, no. 11, and is also regarded as such by Schaffers in A. van der Goes and J. de Meyere (eds.), Op stand aan de wand: Vijf eeuwen familieportretten in Slot Zuylen, coll. cat. Oud-Zuilen 1996, p. 70, and by McNeil Kettering in A.K. Wheelock Jr et al., Gerard ter Borch, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/Detroit (Detroit Institute of Arts) 2004-05, p. 66. Extensive technical analysis suggested that Ter Borch started with the one in Zuylen Castle, then finished the present picture before completing the former, using the Rijksmuseum painting as a model.²³²³G. Korevaar and G. Tauber, ‘Gerard ter Borch Repeats: On Autograph Portrait Copies in the Work of Ter Borch (1617-1681)’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 62 (2014), pp. 348-81, esp. pp. 357-64. It is not known whether Ter Borch produced them on his own initiative, as in the case of his portrait of Willem III of which he reportedly made two versions,²⁴²⁴G. Korevaar and G. Tauber, ‘Gerard ter Borch Repeats: On Autograph Portrait Copies in the Work of Ter Borch (1617-1681)’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 62 (2014), pp. 348-81, esp. p. 355. or at the request of a client. Did the sitter commission them or perhaps his son Gerard, who inherited Nederhorst Manor and after his father’s death in 1648 took his seat in the States of Utrecht. Godard van Reede’s impending death may have been a good reason for having two portraits made, so that one of them could remain in the possession of his second wife, Catharina van Utenhove.

Gerbrand Korevaar [publication date 2026]

See Key to abbreviations, Rijksmuseum painting catalogues and Acknowledgements

F. Hannema, Gerard Terborch, Amsterdam 1943, p. 70; S.J. Gudlaugsson, Geraert Ter Borch, I, The Hague 1959, p. 58; ibid., II, 1960, p. 77, no. 47; A. McNeil Kettering, Gerard ter Borch en de Vrede van Munster, exh. cat. The Hague (Mauritshuis) 1998, pp. 26, 28; McNeil Kettering in A.K. Wheelock Jr et al., Gerard ter Borch, exh. cat. Washington (National Gallery of Art)/Detroit (Detroit Institute of Arts) 2004-05, pp. 66-67, no. 10; G. Korevaar and G. Tauber, ‘Gerard ter Borch Repeats: On Autograph Portrait Copies in the Work of Ter Borch (1617-1681)’, The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 62 (2014), pp. 348-81

1960, p. 49, no. 573 A6; 1976, p. 130, no. A 3842

Gerbrand Korevaar, 2026, 'Gerard ter (II) Borch, Portrait of Godard van Reede (1588-1648), c. 1646 - c. 1648', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20026692