The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster

Ter Borch's Ratification of the Treaty of Münster from 1648 is his most historically significant work, documenting the ceremony at which representatives of Spain and the Dutch Republic swore to uphold the Peace of Westphalia in the Münster town hall on May 15, 1648, ending eighty years of Spanish-Dutch war. Ter Borch was present at the negotiations—he had traveled to Münster in 1646 in the entourage of the Dutch diplomat Adriaen Pauw—and produced this extraordinary group portrait of nearly eighty figures with remarkable accuracy of individual likeness. The painting's miniature scale—just under half a meter wide—makes its documentary ambition even more impressive, as each of the tiny figures is individually characterized with portrait precision. The work is now in the National Gallery London and stands as the most important visual document of the Peace of Westphalia.

The small-scale painting packs dozens of identifiable portraits into a compressed interior space with remarkable precision. Each figure is rendered with ter Borch's characteristic attention to costume detail, creating a visual document of extraordinary historical and artistic value.