Cicilia met bloemen - Gesina ter Borch

A delicate seventeenth-century manuscript page by Gesina ter Borch, featuring calligraphic poetry alongside a hand-coloured illustration of a shepherdess.

This delicate work originates from the personal albums of Gesina ter Borch, a Dutch artist active during the seventeenth century. The page combines calligraphic poetry with a small, hand-coloured illustration. The text, written in a flowing script, narrates the pastoral tale of Cicilia and her shepherd companion, Floriaen. The visual component depicts Cicilia as a shepherdess, adorned with a floral wreath and carrying a bouquet, set against a simple, grassy ground.

Gesina ter Borch produced these albums as private collections of songs, poems, and drawings. Her style is characterised by a modest, personal quality that differs from the large-scale oil paintings of her contemporaries. The figure of Cicilia is rendered with fine ink outlines and soft washes of colour, typical of the amateur yet highly skilled artistic output found in Dutch domestic circles of the period. The composition is sparse, allowing the relationship between the written word and the miniature figure to remain the primary focus.

This print captures the charm of seventeenth-century Dutch literary culture, where visual art and poetry were often integrated within the same page. The figure's attire, featuring a yellow bodice and a long skirt, reflects the fashion of the era, while the pastoral theme draws upon classical influences popular in Dutch literature. By preserving this page, one gains insight into the private creative life of a woman artist who documented the social and cultural interests of her time through her own hand. The work remains a quiet example of the intersection between graphic art and manuscript tradition, offering a glimpse into the domestic pastimes of the Dutch Golden Age.