Gabriel Metsu
Man writing a letter
Gabriel Metsu
Woman reading a letter
Gabriel Metsu at the National Gallery of Ireland ‘Gabriel Metsu: Rediscovered Master of the Dutch Golden Age’ will bring together some 40 of the artist’s finest and most celebrated paintings and drawings, drawn from both private and public collections around the world.
September 4th to December 5th 2010
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Source: National Gallery of Ireland
Metsu was, like his contemporary Vermeer, one of the most important genre painters of his age. In addition to painting many exquisite scenes of everyday life, he also ventured into portraiture, biblical scenes and still-lifes. Among the works in the exhibition will be a number of recently discovered and newly restored paintings that will afford a contemporary audience an opportunity to evaluate the artist afresh. One of the highlights of the exhibition will be A Woman Artist (Le Corset rouge), (c.1661-4) which was recently found in a private collection and features Metsu’s wife, Isabella de Wolff, who frequently modeled for her husband.
The exhibition will also feature a number of important works on loan from important public collections, such as The Louvre, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Prado, Madrid; The National Gallery, London; Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome, as well as several works on loan from museums in Germany (Dresden, Kassel, Berlin, Munich) and from The Netherlands (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden; Mauritshuis, The Hague). It will also include the Gallery’s own Man Writing a Letter, and Woman Reading a Letter. These elegant companion pieces, (dated c.1664-6) were gifted in 1987 to the National Gallery’s collection by the late Sir Alfred and Lady Beit, and are generally considered to be Metsu’s best-known works.
Dr. Adriaan Waiboer, curator of the exhibition and editor of the accompanying catalogue says: “This exhibition is an opportunity to discover a lesser-known, but highly talented artist, whose work offers a unique window onto daily life in his time. Metsu was gifted with an unparalleled handling of the brush which allowed him to paint a remarkable oeuvre of history paintings, portraits and still-life, but most of all, exquisite genre paintings. His works have gained him a place among the most celebrated painters of 17th-century Holland.”
Raymond Keaveney, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland says: “. Out of the 40 works included in this exhibition, many are from private collections and normally inaccessible to the public, thus offering viewers a chance to gain new insights into the artist. We are indebted to the generosity of lenders from public and private collections without whom this exhibition would not have been realised.”
The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue, ‘Gabriel Metsu’ edited by Adriaan Waiboer and published by the National Gallery of Ireland in association with Yale University Press. The catalogue includes eight insightful essays on various aspects of Metsu’s life and work with contributions from Adriaan E. Waiboer (National Gallery of Ireland); Wayne E. Franits (Syracuse University), Linda Stone-Ferrier (University of Kansas), E. Melanie Gifford (National Gallery of Art, Washington), Pieter Roelofs, Bianca M. du Mortier and Marijn Schapelhouman (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).
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