A spectacular exhibition, opening tomorrow in the National Gallery of Ireland, pays homage to the remarkable painter Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667).
It brings together forty of the artist's finest and most celebrated works from all phases of his career, including a number of recently discovered and restored works.
The exhibition also features the Gallery's own companion pieces, A Man Writing a Letter and A Woman Reading a Letter, generally considered to be the artist's most renowned works. After Dublin, the exhibition will travel to Amsterdam and Washington.
Fresh and spontaneous
Although his career was relatively short, Metsu enjoyed great success as a genre painter, but also for his religious scenes, still lifes, and portraits.
His ability to capture ordinary moments of life with freshness and spontaneity was matched only by his ability to depict materials with an unerring truth to natureMetsu had an unrivalled talent for imbuing his figures with humanity and personality.
His engaging genre scenes provide a window onto life in seventeenth-century Holland, from the quarrels in the neighbourhood street market to the amorous affairs of the upper class.
Enlightening book
At the same time of the exhibition, Yale University Press published a thorough study, written by Adriaan E. Waiboer. This enlightening book resituates Metsu as one of the leading genre painters of his time.
It offers a portrait of the age through his patrons and his wide network of contacts and colleagues in Amsterdam, as well as analysis of Metsu’s technique as a draftsman and as a painter, and it documents the fashions and fabrics of the time through his work.
You can see Metsu’s paintings on Webgallery of Art.
A Man Writing a Letter, c. 1664–6, Oil on panel, 52 x 40.5cm, Photo © National Gallery of Ireland
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