Imens i livet hos Gabriël Metsu
Hele livet1657
A quarrel with a neighbour and a move beside the vegetable market
In 1657 he quarrelled with a neighbour (it was alleged that Metsu had left a brothel at six in the morning) and moved to a house on a canal-side where a daily vegetable market was held.
1657–1667 · Virkested
Amsterdam
27. april 1658
Married: Isabella de Wolff
early 1660s
Turns to the Leiden “fijnschilders”
At the onset of the 1660s he turned for inspiration to the art of the Leiden “fijnschilders” (“fine painters”), whose origin is traced to Dou: their paintings on wood or copper are marked by exceptional rendering of minute detail and a smooth, glowing surface. He was apparently responding to the market for Dou’s paintings, which Dou sold at exorbitant prices.
c. 1661
Wins the patronage of the cloth merchant Jan Hinlopen
He won the patronage of the Amsterdam cloth merchant Jan J. Hinlopen, one of his most important patrons, and painted his family more than once in a fashionable setting. Such works include the “Portrait of the Hinlopen Family” (Berlin) and “Visit to the Nursery” (Metropolitan Museum).
