Gabriel Metsu @ the National Gallery of Art

Got to the National Gallery of Art today and though I was originally going to see the Gauguin exhibit, it was the seventeenth century Dutch artist Gabriel Metsu who proved the more delightful. I am an on again off again fan of the genre dubbed the Dutch Golden Age. Some of the artists capture my imagination with their precision and subject matter--a subtle distinction, I grant you, given that they were all pretty much hanging out around town and painting very similar stuff. So why it is that Johannes Vermeer and Nicolaes Maes move me and Jan Steen and Judith Leyster don't isn't easy to explain.

Today I add a new member to the Vermeer/Maes column, Gabriel Metsu.

Many of his works make particular reference to Vermeer. The use of a limited set of props: the silver ewer, the oriental rug, the statuette of cupid, the slippers, his wife as a model--all move from one carefully staged interior painting to the next. Unlike Vermeer, Metsu also paints scenes of the common folk in the outdoors and at various times in his short career religious themes more mindful of Rembrandt's.

And in truth, it might be more accurate to state the Vermeer's iconic works are references in Metsu's. In their day, Metsu was a far more sought after artist. Time has reversed their roles in the minds of most people today.


The first two paintings above were a set painted of a young courting couple. Both appear in peaceful, contemplative pursuits, but the commentary accompanying them at the NGA points out that the maid's pulling back of the drapery to reveal a painting of a stormy sea indicated that all is not as it appears. I just wanted to why the thimble was on the floor.

Metsu's talent as a painter really shines in his depiction of both satiny fabrics and shiny metal objects. This painting contains both and is really the one work that most stood out to me in the entire show.

Here's a smaller, more intimate portrait of a common fellow with his pipe and pint. Again, you can see the exquisite depiction of the metal stein.

The oddest painting in the exhibit is also one of the oddest from the Dutch Golden Age itself, this self-portrait of the artist as a bathing hunter. Nothing like it was ever painted by any of his contemporaries.

The show is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. through July 24th. I highly recommend a visit.