Gabriel Metsu

Gabriël Metsu painted the quiet life of Dutch homes and markets: women reading letters, feeding pets, tending sick children, men drinking and dozing. His pictures are small, finely painted and full of warm, observant detail, and he is often grouped with Vermeer and de Hooch.

He was born in Leiden, joined the painters’ guild there in 1648, and moved to Amsterdam around 1655, where he spent the rest of his short life. He worked in many styles, painting history subjects, still lifes and portraits as well as genre scenes. His work hangs in the Rijksmuseum, the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Sick Child, in the Rijksmuseum, is his best known painting: a pale child on her mother’s lap, painted with great tenderness. The Old Drinker and The Sleeping Sportsman show his lighter, more humorous side.