Portrait of Hermanna van der Cruis

Ter Borch's 1665 portrait of Hermanna van der Cruis was painted during his settled Deventer period, after he had finally made his home in that prosperous Overijssel town where he would remain until his death. Van der Cruis was presumably a member of the Deventer burgher or regenten class that provided ter Borch with the bulk of his portrait commissions in his mature years. The 1660s saw him develop his most refined style for female portraiture — quietly elegant, with an almost hypnotic attention to costly dress fabrics.

The sitter wears what appears to be a dark silk overskirt with a lighter bodice, rendered with the fine, parallel brushstrokes that give ter Borch's silks their distinctive, almost photographic sheen. The face and hands receive more varied, softer treatment. The composition is simple and frontal.