Gabriel Metsu

From 4 September to 5 December 2010, the National Gallery of Ireland will present an exhibition devoted to the remarkable painter Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667). The exhibition will consist of some forty of the artist’s finest and most celebrated works from all phases of his career, including a number of recently discovered and restored works. Despite his early death at the age of thirty-seven, Metsu produced one of the most awe-inspiring oeuvres by any painter of the Dutch Golden Age. The show will pay homage to his exquisite and engaging genre scenes, which provide a window onto life in seventeenth-century Holland. They range from the quarrels in the neighbourhood street market to the amorous affairs of the upper class. Some of Metsu’s lesser known achievements in the fields of religious painting, portraiture and still life will also be highlighted. The exhibition is organised by the National Gallery of Ireland in association with the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Gabriel Metsu