A Maid Milking - Gerard terBorch

A Maid Milking a Cow in a Barn, oil on panel painting by Gerard ter Borch, c. 1652-54, Getty Center

In a barn, a young maid squats while milking a brown and white spotted cow. Standing nearby, another cow seems to be waiting its turn. Gerard ter Borch treated the routine chore of milking in a straightforward manner, rejecting the humorous themes often favored by seventeenth-century Dutch genre painters. He was especially skilled at rendering the textures and surfaces of objects like those found in the foreground: the roughly hewn stool, the wooden basin filled with water, the chipped ceramic crock, and the shiny metal hinges of the buckets. The painting's muted colors and subtle play of light are characteristic of Ter Borch's work.

A Woman playing a Theorbo (lute) to Two Men, 1667, NGA

Scenes of small groups of people making music were common in seventeenth-century Dutch painting. They reflected a popular social activity among sophisticated families and as such might symbolise the harmony of family life or friendship groups. But such parties were also an accepted way for young men and women to meet and were therefore often associated with erotic encounters.

In this painting, the relationship between the three characters has been left uncertain. They're not obviously flirting and their body language is neutral, but a couple of subtle clues might tempt us towards a particular conclusion. There is a bed in the background – perhaps this is also on the minds of the protagonists – and the ace of spades suggests a game of cards, which was often associated with seduction. It’s only a hint, but it is enough to set our minds wondering about what is going on behind the inscrutable expressions of the musicians.