Gabriël MetsuDutch, 1629–1667De haringkoopvrouw
May one see it?
Unknown
Rijksmuseum
Amsterdam, Netherlands
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
With a critical eye, the woman in this painting inspects the herring being offered to her by a herring merchant. Unlike what is common today in the Netherlands, fish was primarily consumed in the morning and afternoon during the 17th century. Additionally, there was an abundant supply of fresh fish on Catholic fasting days such as Fridays, when meat was not eaten.
Rijksmuseum
Particulars
- Accession number
- SK-A-2328
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Rijksmuseum
- Image: Rijksmuseum — public domain
Meanwhile, in the life of Gabriël Metsu
The whole life1657–1667 · Workplace
Amsterdam
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).
1662
Jan Vos’s poem on “Visit to the Nursery”
Jan Vos published a poem about this painting, which belonged to Jan Hinlopen: the scene is set in an imaginary room of unrealistically large proportions, and hung in the reception room of Hinlopen’s house it alluded to his powerful role in local politics.
