The Sleeping Soldier
about 1656–165725 3/8 x 21 3/8 in. (64.45 x 54.29 cm)
Gerard ter Borch (Dutch, 1617–1681)
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Bequest of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft
Accession Number:
1931.398
Currently on View in:
Virtue & Vice (6)
Exhibition History
Leeds, England. Corporation Art Gallery. 1868, no. 652. London. Guildhall Art Gallery. 1895, no. 111.
Colorado. Denver Art Museum. Baroque Art, October 3–November 15, 1971.
Washington. Seattle Art Museum. Expressions of the Brush: Paintings by Dutch and British Masters, December 22, 2001–March 9, 2003 (during TMA renovation).
Paris. Musée du Louvre. Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting, February 22–May 22, 2017, no. 46.
Dublin. National Gallery of Ireland. Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry, June 17–September 17, 2017, no. 46.
Washington, D.C. National Gallery of Art. Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry, October 22, 2017–January 21, 2018, no. 46.
Gallery Label
A sleeping soldier slumps in a chair, perhaps after emptying the nearby wine pitcher. At left, a courier has handed a letter to a young woman who tickles the soldier’s mouth with a piece of straw. Will the man awaken with a start? Will the courier sound his trumpet? The anticipation of the sleeping man’s reaction to this prank adds comedy to the scene. The painting also shows off Gerard ter Borch’s ability to depict textures like leather, wool, metal, and the icy sheen of white satin.
Provenance
Acquired by Johan van Tongeren; sold, the Hague, the Netherlands, March 24, 1692 [1]. Acquired by A. van Hoek; sold, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, April 7, 1706 (possibly stock no. 34). Acquired by George Alan, fifth viscount Midleton (died 1848), Peper–Harow, near Godalming, Surrey; (sold by Christie’s, London, July 31, 1851 (stock no. 77)). Acquired by Henry Harvey, London, by 1868. Acquired by William Harvey, London, by 1895. (Acquired by Scott and Fowles, New York, NY); purchased by Charles Phelps Taft [1843-1929] and Anna Sinton Taft [1850-1931], Cincinnati, OH, 1916; donated to the Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts, Cincinnati, OH, May 21, 1927 [2]; transferred to the Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH, September 1, 2006 [3].Notes:
[1]. Sold with a pendant. See Catalogue of the Taft Museum, 1995. [2]. The Cincinnati Institute of Fine Arts (CIFA) was formed by Charles Phelps and Anna Sinton Taft on March 22, 1927 as a non-profit corporation to stimulate the development of art and music in the City of Cincinnati and run the Taft Museum of Art, which opened in 1932. The Tafts offered $1 million for a permanent endowment fund, on the condition that the community raise $2.5 million in matching funds, which was achieved by December 3, 1928. [3]. Until August 31, 2006, the Museum was owned by CIFA, administered by CIFA’s Board of Trustees, and governed by the Taft Museum Board of Overseers. On September 1, 2006, the Museum legally separated from CIFA and began operations as its own incorporated 501(c)(3) entity. This separate incorporation led to the transfer to the separate entity after August 31, 2006 of all tangible assets comprising the Taft collection.
Collection Lists
This artwork is in the following list(s):
