_Gabriel Metsu_ (Dutch: 1630-1667).
Metsu is one of the _genre_ painters who are now appraised
most highly--sums of £2580 and £3200 severally were given
at the Secrétan Sale for pictures of his. In the Hertford
House Gallery are some good specimens which the late Sir
Richard Wallace acquired at great cost. Though, like most of
his brother-artists, he was fond of painting tavern-scenes
(_e.g._ No. 970), he was also a painter of high life and the
drawing-room, like Terburg and Netscher. "In each of these
spheres he combined humour with expression, a keen appreciation
of nature with feeling, and breadth with delicacy of touch, in
a manner unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries" (Crowe).
"When his pictures have escaped the ordeal of ruthless cleaning
they are pervaded by the finest tone, and the whites in them
have that delicate glow which distance and atmosphere lend
to snowy peaks. It is obvious that he caressed this least
manageable of colours with unceasing love. Altogether his works
have a quality of distinction rare in those of any school"
(Burton). Metsu's father was a painter, whose third wife (the
mother of Gabriel) was a painter's widow. The boy was taught by
Gerard Dou, and already at the age of fourteen was admitted a
member of the Leyden Guild of Painters. In 1650 he removed to
Amsterdam, where he fell under the influence of Rembrandt. The
large picture in the Louvre of "The Woman taken in Adultery,"
signed by Metsu and dated 1653, shows this fact. Metsu did not,
however, adhere to religious subjects, but applied the lessons
he learnt from the great master to subjects more congenial to
his talent.