Portrait of Johanna Bardoel (d after 1667), wife of Gerard van der Schalcke

Portrait of Johanna Bardoel from 1644 by Gerard ter Borch is an identified portrait from his early career. The sitter was the wife of Gerard van der Schalcke, and the portrait documents a member of the Dutch Reformed middle class that formed ter Borch's primary clientele. Ter Borch's extraordinary ability to render silk, satin, and velvet with a tactile reality unsurpassed in Dutch Golden Age painting made him the supreme painter of the Dutch upper middle class, his small elegant panels providing the definitive image of prosperous seventeenth-century society.

The early portrait demonstrates ter Borch's developing skill in rendering costume and features, with careful attention to the sitter's collar and headwear.