Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/277

SECTION II GABRIEL METSU GABRIEL METSU was born at Leyden in 1630, or possibly in 1629. ^ e was the son of an otherwise unknown painter, Jaques Metsu, and of his wife, Jacquemijntje Garniers, who was the widow of another unknown painter, Guilliam Fremault, nicknamed Strazio Veluto. Gabriel cannot have received any training from his father, since Jaques died in 1633. As a child living in Leyden he can hardly have learned his art, as indeed Houbraken tells us, from any other painter but Gerard Dou, who was at that time in the highest repute. From Dou he certainly acquired his sound technique and his extremely neat style of painting. It seems incredible, but it is a fact, that in 1644, when he was only a boy of fourteen or fifteen, Metsu was one of the signatories of a petition in which the artists of Leyden sought permission from the magistrates of the town to establish a Guild of St. Luke. His fellow-artists must, therefore, not only have recognised him as a colleague, but must also have considered that Metsu's signature to the petition would materially assist their cause ; in other words, the young master must already have acquired a reputation outside artistic circles. The Guild was established in 1648, and Metsu was one of its first members. He continued to live in Leyden until 1654. Some years later we hear of him at Amsterdam. He is mentioned as living there from 1657 onwards, but the precise date at which he migrated from Leyden is unknown. He died at Amsterdam in 1667, and was buried on October 24 of that year. Metsu's artistic talent is great, but limited, or rather, sharply defined. In the earliest pictures by him that are known to us he appears as a master, and during his short life there are no great changes in his style. As a pupil of Dou's he at first paints with excessive neatness and smoothness. Later, his brush gains more freedom and vivacity. He comes to know the charm of Rembrandt's chiaroscuro, and adopts a warmer tone (about the years 1655-60). In conformity with the general change in the style and taste of the time, Metsu's style appears to have developed in the direction of cool colour and a smooth and polished technique, so that we may assign the very quiet and more or less over-finished pictures to the last years of his life. From beginning to end Metsu remains faithful to the class of 253