Recently on the market with an attribution to Jürgen Ovens (1623-1678), this representation of Venus and Cupid (oil on canvas laid down on panel, 73 x 61 cm) is clearly by the hand of his contemporary Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681). It can e.g. be compared with Lady at her Toilette (oil on canvas, 76,2 x 59,7 cm, about 1660) in the Detroit Institute of arts. In Detroit it is considered one of the finest of all Dutch genre paintings now in American collections. In the eighteenth century the Lady at her Toilette was in the collection of Pieter van Winter (Amsterdam) who als owned two paintings by Vermeer: Maid Pouring Milk (het Melkmeisje) and Little Street (het Straatje) now in the Rijksmuseum.
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- Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681), Lady at her Toilette, ca. 1660 Detroit Institute of Arts
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- Gerard ter Borch (1617-1681), Venus and Cupid, ca. 1660 Private collection
For Venus and for the lady in Detroit, Terborch seems to have used the same model (e.g. the similar faces), who also served for women in other paintings by Terborch. The lady’s expensive blue dress, trimmed with gold embroidery can be compared with the one in Detroit. Cupid (with arrow) makes the scene fit in the iconography of love, eventually the dangers of worldly temptation. Pearls (a collar, a diadem) are well known attributes referring to Venus. The painting can be dated about 1660 (cf. Detroit).