Gabriël MetsuPaíses Bajos, 1629–1667Old Woman Meditating
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Amsterdam, Países Bajos
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An elderly woman sits with a book on her lap, having removed her pince-nez. Perhaps she is taking a momentary pause, or has she dozed off? Her pale, wrinkled face, hands, and the white pages stand out against the darkness. Thus Metsu emphasized the subject: the study of devotional texts, with a focus on the transience of life.
Rijksmuseum
Ficha
- Número de inventario
- SK-A-672
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Fuentes
- Rijksmuseum
- Imagen: Rijksmuseum — public domain
En la vida de Gabriël Metsu
La vida entera1657–1667 · Lugar de trabajo
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.
