Gabriel Metsu

Dutch, 1629 - 1667

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A young, smiling man bursts through the door of a dimly lit bedroom occupied by three women in this vertical painting. All four people have pale skin. The arched door is to our right and the man faces our left with his arms spread wide. He leans slightly forward as he holds the wide brim of his hat out by his left side, to our right. Shoulder-length chestnut-brown hair frames his face, and he wears a velvety brown jacket trimmed with tan stripes and pompoms down the front and along the sleeve we can see. A broad sash crosses his chest and tassels hang from his wide, white collar. Between us and him, a wooden chair is draped with a crimson-red cloak trimmed with white fur and bands of gold. A pewter pitcher and candlestick rest on the pine floor in front of it, near the lower right corner of the painting. The man is stopped at the door by a woman wearing a sable-brown gown with a tight-fitting bodice and a white cap on the back of her head. Her body faces the man as she leans toward him with her outstretched right hand resting on his shoulder, and she turns her smiling face back over her shoulder. Light from an open window on the left illuminates the woman in the center, who steps down from a bed enclosed by forest-green, velvet curtains trimmed with gold fringe and tassels. The curtains are parted behind her to reveal white pillows. She wears a long, gleaming white satin skirt topped by a tight-fitting coral-red bodice stitched with thin lines of gold. A white neckerchief covers her shoulders and is partially tucked into the bodice. Her head is covered by a white kerchief knotted under her chin. Her body faces us with one foot on a step stool, and the other foot reaches down to a gold and red shoe on the floor. Its mate lies nearby, pointing away from us. Her head is turned to our right to look at the man. She has a thin face with a high forehead, and small mouth is closed or pursed. Closest to us and near the lower left corner of the painting, the third woman sits alongside a small table under the open window. She wears a long, pine-green jacket trimmed with white fur over a brown skirt. Her auburn hair is partially coiled around her head, while some locks fall in bunched curls. She sits facing our right in profile with her back to the window, so her smiling face is mostly in shadow. Her left arm rests on the table, which is draped with a red and copper patterned cloth, and she holds a white comb in that hand. A mirror and round silver box sit on the table next to her. A small brown and white dog stands by her feet, its head tilted up to look at the others. The far wall of the room is covered with a faint pattern of golden brown vines and leaves against a forest-green background. The artist signed the painting on the face of the step leading up to the bed, “G. Metsu.”
Gabriel Metsu, The Intruder, c. 1660, oil on panel, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.57

The Intruder

Gabriel Metsu · c. 1660 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1937.1.57

Carlo Lasinio, Labrelis, Huntsman Visiting a Lady, 1783/1786, color mezzotint on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.1180

Huntsman Visiting a Lady

Carlo Lasinio, Labrelis · 1783/1786 · color mezzotint on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1964.8.1180

James Watson, The Deshabille, 1776, mezzotint on laid paper, Paul Mellon Fund, 2001.118.71

The Deshabille

James Watson · 1776 · mezzotint on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2001.118.71

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Recueil d'estampes gravées d'après les tableaux du cabinet de Monsieur le duc De Choiseul

Pierre-François Basan, Various Artists, Pierre-Charles Baquoy, Louis Binet, Robert Daudet, Remi-Henri-Joseph Delvaux, Balthasar Anton Dunker, Louis Germain, Carl Guttenberg, Louis-Michel Halbou, Francois-Robert Ingouf, Nicolas Delaunay, Jacques Philippe LeBas, Pierre Charles Levesque, Jean Baptiste Liénard, Charles Louis Lingée, Joseph-C. Maillet, Pierre Maleuvre, Pietro Antonio Martini, Louis-Joseph Masquelier, Jean Massard, Philippe Louis Parizeau, Charles Emmanuel Patas, Nicolas Ponce, Noël Pruneau, Antoine Louis Romanet, Jean Francois Rousseau, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, Vény, Carl Wilhelm Weisbrod, B. A. Wieilh, Pierre-Philippe Choffard, Charles Emmanuel Patas, Carl Wilhelm Weisbrod, Remi-Henri-Joseph Delvaux, Jeanne Deny, Philippe Louis Parizeau · 1771 · bound volume with engraved table of contents and 124 etching and engravings on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.16.1

John Boydell, James Watson, The Female Correspondent, 1771, mezzotint on laid paper, Paul Mellon Fund, 2001.118.72

The Female Correspondent

John Boydell, James Watson · 1771 · mezzotint on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2001.118.72

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein, Pancake Woman, 1768, chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7028

Pancake Woman

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein · 1768 · chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7028

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Pancake Woman

Johannes Kornlein, Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Christian Josi · 1768, published 1821 · chalk manner printed in black ink ·  Accession ID  1974.6.1.30

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein, Pancake Woman, 1768, chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper and hand-colored with red chalk (proof), Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7026

Pancake Woman

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein · 1768 · chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper and hand-colored with red chalk (proof) ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7026

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein, Pancake Woman, 1768, chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7024

Pancake Woman

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein · 1768 · chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7024

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein, Pancake Woman, 1768, chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7025

Pancake Woman

Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Johannes Kornlein · 1768 · chalk manner printed in black ink on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1943.3.7025

Bibliography

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 3:32, 40-42, 51, 211.

1829

  • Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters. 9 vols. London, 1829-1842: 4(1833):70-110; 9(1842):517.

1907

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. 8 vols. Translated by Edward G. Hawke. London, 1907-1927: 1(1907):253-335.

1966

  • Van Wessem, J. N., and Lucia Thyssen. Gabriel Metsu. Exh. cat. Stedelijk Museum "De Lakenhal," Leiden, 1966.

1968

  • Gudlaugsson, Sturla J. "Kanttekeningen bij de ontwikkeling van Metsu." Oud Holland 83 (1968): 13-44.

1974

  • Robinson, Franklin W. Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667): A Study of His Place in Dutch Genre Painting of the Golden Age. New York, 1974.

1984

  • Sutton, Peter C. Masters of Seventeenth-Century Dutch Genre Painting. Edited by Jane Iandola Watkins. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art; Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin; Royal Academy of Arts, London. Philadelphia, 1984: 248-253.

1991

  • MacLaren, Neil. The Dutch School, 1600-1900. Revised and expanded by Christopher Brown. 2 vols. National Gallery Catalogues. London, 1991: 1:253-254.

1995

  • .Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 164.

2007

  • Waiboer, Adriaan E. Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667): Life and Work. Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 2007: 45–57, 78–90.

2010

  • Waiboer, Adriaan E. Gabriel Metsu. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; National Gallery of Art, Washington. New Haven, 2010.