Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings Inscribed (lower right): GTB [monogram]
Notes There are two paintings by Eglon van der Neer dated 1665 which are closely related to the MMA work but were probably painted slightly later than it; one is in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Vaduz, and the other was formerly at the Richard Green Galleries, London. Another picture that is closely related to this group is "A Lady Drawing" in the Wallace Collection, London.
Provenance Josua van Belle (until 1730; his sale, Rotterdam, September 6, 1730, no. 83, for 32 florins); Robbert de Neufville, Leiden (until 1736; his sale, Leiden, March 15, 1736, no. 10, for 38 florins); ?[J. Wijsman, until 1828; sale, Amsterdam, November 24, 1828, no. 172]; ?[Jean Bleuland, Utrecht; sale, Utrecht, May 6, 1839, no. 342, for 2,000 florins to Engelberts]; Messchert van Vollenhoven (until 1892; sale, Amsterdam, March 29, 1892, no. 4, for 4,300 florins); [Sedelmeyer, Paris, in 1898; cat., 1898, no. 217, ill., as "Lecture interrompue," by ter Borch]; Max Wasserman, Paris (in 1898); [Kleinberger, Paris, in 1910]; August de Ridder, Schönberg, near Cronberg in the Taunus (until d. 1911; cat., 1913, pl. 20; on loan to the Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, in 1913; sale of his sequestered property, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, June 2, 1924, no. 82, as by ter Borch, for Fr 128,000); Michael Friedsam, New York (until d. 1931)
Exhibition History Amsterdam. location unknown. "Exposition Rétrospective," 1867, no. 195 (lent by Messchert van Vollenhoven?).
The Hague. location unknown. "Exposition Rétrospective," 1890, no. 14 (lent by Messchert van Vollenhoven?).
New York. F. Kleinberger Galleries. "The Collection of Pictures of the Late Herr A. de Ridder," November 24–December 15, 1913, no. 20 (as "A Girl, Reading," by Ter Borch).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Michael Friedsam Collection," November 15, 1932–April 9, 1933, no catalogue.
Palm Beach. Society of the Four Arts. "Portraits, Figures and Landscapes," January 12–February 4, 1951, no. 30.
"Little Masters in 17th Century Holland and Flanders (circulating exhibition)," 1954–57, no catalogue.
New York. Barnard College. "Feminine Elegance Through the Centuries," November 17–December 19, 1958, no catalogue.
Frankfurt. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. "Leselust: Niederländische Malerei von Rembrandt bis Vermeer," September 24, 1993–January 2, 1994, no. 60.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 18, 2007–January 6, 2008, no catalogue.
References Gerard Hoet. Catalogus of Naamlyst van Schilderyen, met derzelver pryzen, zedert een langen reeks van Jaaren zoo in Holland als op andere Plaatzen in het openbaar verkogt . 1, The Hague, 1752, p. 358, no. 83, p. 459, no. 10, as by Ter Borch, in the 1730 Van Belle and 1736 de Neufville sales.The Collection of Pictures of the late Herr A. de Ridder in his Villa at Schönberg near Cronberg in the Taunus . Berlin, 1913, p. ?, pl. 20 [catalogue section unpaginated], as by Ter Borch; gives provenance and exhibitions.A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century . 5, London, 1913, p. 40, no. 103, as "The Interrupted Reading," by Ter Borch, with extensive provenance.in The Michael Friedsam Collection . [completed 1928], p. 15, as "The Reader," by Ter Borch; gives provenance, references, and exhibitions.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 27, section 2 (November 1932), p. 48, no. 83, as by Ter Borch.Gerard ter Borch . The Hague, 1959–60, vol. 1, p. 304, fig. 147b; vol. 2, p. 161, no. 147b, rejects the monogram, considers the execution decisively typical of Eglon van der Neer, and dismisses the idea that it could come from Ter Borch's studio on the basis of motifs.in Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1985, p. 272, under no. 174, defends the attribution to Van der Neer, but considers it a copy of a lost painting by Ter Borch.Art Bulletin 69 (September 1987), p. 418 n. 45.in De Hollandse Fijnschilders: Van Gerard Dou tot Adriaen van der Werff . Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam, 1989, p. 130, under no. 25, fig. 25c, relates the picture, which he considers "anonymous," to the Liechtenstein panel.Dutch Literature in the Age of Rembrandt . Amsterdam, 1991, ill. on cover.The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Pictures . 4, London, 1992, p. 237, under no. P243, compares it to "A Lady Drawing" by Eglon van der Neer in the Wallace Collection; mistakenly states that the MMA work is dated 1665.in Leselust: Niederländische Malerei von Rembrandt bis Vermeer . Exh. cat., Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. Frankfurt, 1993, pp. 256–57, no. 60, ill., suggests that the book is an emblem book; compares works by Ter Borch, and dates it about 1665.Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 2007, vol. 1, pp. 513–16, no. 132, colorpl. 132.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), p. 39, fig. 49 (color).Vermeer: The Complete Paintings . Antwerp, 2008, p. 174.
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