Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/337

ii GABRIEL METSU 313 on the side of a bed with green curtains. He holds in his right hand a glass which a half-naked young woman seated beside him is filling with wine. Another woman, dressed in yellow with feathers in her hair, embraces the man with her left arm and with the right hand steals his purse, which she passes to an old woman in black. In the right foreground is a table with the remains of a meal ; at the table sits another young man, dressed in red, who sings and accompanies himself on the lute. On the floor are the prodigal's clothes. Through an archway at the back is another room, in which two couples are embracing near a window. The picture is of the early period. It lacks delicacy, is somewhat superficial, and is in a very bad condition ; but it was probably once very fine. "Painted in a broad and masterly style " (Sm.). A similar picture was once in the Liechtenstein Gallery j it has now been withdrawn from exhibition or sold. Signed in full on the step of the bed j canvas, 31 inches by 26 inches. Described by Descamps in the Hoogenbergh collection. Sales. Izaak Hoogenbergh, Amsterdam, April 10, 1743, No. 34 (loo florins). W. Lormier, The Hague, July 4, 1763 (310 florins, probably for the Empress Catherine II.). Now in the Hermitage Palace, St. Petersburg, 1901 catalogue, No. 877. 187*7. The Prodigal Son at his Pleasures. Very fine and very realistic. Sale. The Hague, April 24, 1737, No. 27 (49 florins). Possibly identical with 187. 1 88. A LOVE SCENE. An elderly man with a grey beard, wear- ing a red velvet cap and a brown doublet and cloak, stands to the left behind a young woman, offering her a pearl necklace. He embraces her with his left arm and looks at her breast, which she covers with her right hand while she repulses him with the other. The woman wears a yellow silk dress with a green bodice and a red scarf; she is in profile to the left. In the right background is a brownish-yellow curtain. The figures, which are seen to the knees, are life-size and have a vulgar air. The picture reminds one but little of the artist's ordinary works, and resembles those of the painters who were popular about the years 1625-30 ; yet it is unquestionably genuine. Signed in full in the bottom left-hand corner ; panel, 38 inches by 30 inches. Formerly ascribed to Honthorst (see Bode, Studien, p. 191). Now in the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, 1896 catalogue, No. 658 ; presented by Count Lamberg. i88#. Two Lovers. Sale. Izaak Hoogenbergh, Amsterdam, April 10, 1743, No. 36 (27 florins). iSSb. A Love Scene. A soldier embraces a woman. A curious page looks on through a half-opened door. Weapons lie in the foreground. Panel, 14 inches by i6 inches. Sale. P. J. de Marneffe, Brussels, May 24, 1830, No. 195.