1629-1667 Dutch Gabriel Metsu Galleries One of his earliest pictures is the "Lazarus" at the Strassburg Museum, painted under the influence of Jan Steen. In 1653 under the influence of Rembrandt he painted "Woman taken in Adultery," a large picture which is now in the Louvre. To the same period belong the "Departure of Hagar," formerly in the Thore collection, and the "Widow's Mite" at the Schwerin Gallery. But he probably observed that sacred art was ill suited to his temper, or he found the field too strongly occupied, and turned to other subjects for which he was better fitted. That at one time he was deeply impressed by the vivacity and bold technique of Frans Hals can be gathered from Lord Lonsdale's picture of "Women at a Fishmonger's Shop." What Metsu undertook and carried out from the first with surprising success was the low life of the market and tavern, contrasted, with wonderful versatility, by incidents of high life and the drawing-room. In no single instance do the artistic lessons of Rembrandt appear to have been lost upon him. The same principles of light and shade which had marked his schoolwork in the "Woman taken in Adultery" were applied to subjects of quite a different kind. A group in a drawing-room, a series of groups in the market-place, or a single figure in the gloom of a tavern or parlour, was treated with the utmost felicity by fit concentration and gradation of light, a warm flush of tone pervading every part, and, with that, the study of texture in stuffs was carried as far as it had been by Ter Borch or Gerard Dou, if not with the finish or the brio of De Hooch. One of the best pictures of Metsu's manhood is the "Market-place of Amsterdam," at the Louvre, respecting which it is difficult to distribute praise in fair proportions, so excellent are the various parts, the characteristic movement and action of the dramatis personae, the selection of faces, the expression and the gesture, and the texture of the things depicted. Equally fine, though earlier, are the "Sportsman" (dated 1661) and the "Tavern" (also 1661) at the Hague and Dresden Museums, and the "Game-Dealer's Shop," also at Dresden, with the painter's signature and 1662. Gabriel Metsu, Man Writing a Letter (1662-1665), Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Ireland, DublinAmong the five examples of the painter in the Wallace Collection, are "The Tabby Cat," and "The Sleeping Sportsman," which cost Lord Hertford £ 3000, is an admirable example technically considered. Among his finest representations of home life are the "Repast" at the Hermitage in St Petersburg; the "Mother nursing her Sick Child" in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; the "Amateur Musicians" at the Hague Gallery; the "Duet" and the "Music Lesson" at the National Gallery, London, and many more examples at nearly all the leading European galleries. Five of his painting are in Dresden, collected by August the Strong.  Related Paintings of Gabriel Metsu :. | Breakfast | The Apothecary | The Sick Girl | The King Drinks (mk08) | The Busy Cook (nk05) |
Related Artists:
Nathaniel Smibert
(January 20, 1734 - November 8, 1756), was an artist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-18th century. Born in Boston in 1734, he trained as a painter with his father, the artist John Smybert, and produced several portraits, notably of Ezra Stiles, architect Peter Harrison, and Dorothy Wendell (in the Collection of Dr John L Hale, Boston).
Pierre-Jacques Cazes
(1676-1754) was a French historical painter, known as the teacher of, among others, Chardin. In 1703, he became part of the Academie, was named as director in 1743 and chancellor in 1746. He also worked in the Galerie d'Apollon in the Louvre in 1727 and produced a large number of religious paintings for churches in Paris and Versailles. His historical painting is in the same academic tradition as the French painters Charles Le Brun and Charles de Lafosse. He also painted paintings with mythological motifs and genre scenes. A portrait the artist wearing a wig and holding a portfolio was presented to the Academie Royale in 1734 by Chardin's friend Joseph Aved.
Adalbert Waagen
painted Bucht von Palermo mit Blick auf Monte Pellegrino in 1896