Gabriel Metsu

Gabriel Metsu – Training with Jan Stehen, Gerard Dou and Jan Baptist Weenix

Gabriel Metsu was born in Leiden in January 1629. His father Jacques Metsu was a Flemish sculptor and painter; although he passed on his talent to his son, he was unable to take care of his son's education because he had already died by the time Gabriel was born. His stepfather, a sea captain, very probably financed his education, so that in 1648, at the age of 18, he was one of the first members of the young painters' guild in Leiden. Gabriel Metsu may have learnt the basics of painting from Jan Steen or Gerard Dou, although no reliable information has survived. What is certain, however, is that after the death of his mother he went to Utrecht to expand his knowledge with Nikolaus Knüpfer and Jan Baptist Weenix. Around 1655, he moved to Amsterdam, where he found an apartment on the Prinsengracht canal near a brewery and relatives who were the children of the sugar manufacturer Phililps Metsu. However, he was forced to move after a neighbourhood dispute, which may have been related to the artist's extensive visit to a brothel. 

Coarse and splendid scenes in the style of ter Borch and Vermeer

In 1658, Gabriel Metsu married Isabella de Wolff, the daughter of a potter and the painter Maria de Grebber. For Metsu, this was just another step on his well-calculated career path, which he had begun, like many of his contemporaries, by painting commissioned pictures and biblical history pieces. However, Metsu soon realised that he would not be able to make a name for himself in the long term with these and increasingly turned to rural genre pieces of peasant and tavern scenes in the style of his presumed teacher Jan Stehen. He used a drastically coarse visual language, showing details that were sometimes considered offensive and provocative, and clearly followed Gerard ter Borch and Jan Vermeer, who were among the most highly paid artists of his time. After all, that was why Gabriel Metsu had come to Amsterdam: To be close to the moneyed aristocracy of the merchants and to be able to sell his works at a high price. It was the glittering, rich life that Metsu wanted - for himself and as the subject of his art.

Large art in small format; success with critics and the public

Gabriel Metsu favoured a small format for his paintings; he did not really feel comfortable with large figures. Nevertheless, his small paintings in particular reveal his full creative power, as he executed his genre scenes and conversation pieces with an almost manic obsession for detail, but often let a crude sense of humour shine through. From 1659, Metsu was officially allowed to call himself a citizen of Amsterdam and was considered a recognised and sought-after artist. One of his most important clients was the cloth merchant Jan J. Hinlopen, who distinguished himself as an important art collector and signaled an immense step up in Metsu’s reputation. Contemporary art critics celebrated him, and the poet Jan Vos even honoured Gabriel Metsu's art with a number of laudatory verses.

Gabriel Metsu died in Amsterdam on 24th October 1667.