
Dutch Golden Age painter Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667) created refined genre scenes and portraits that rivaled Vermeer in their depiction of domestic life. Born in Leiden eight months after his father's death, he registered as an independent master painter at just eighteen. By the mid-1650s, he had moved to Amsterdam, where he married Isabella de Wolff in 1658 and developed his mature style focusing on elegant upper-class interiors.
Metsu's paintings feature masterful rendering of fabrics, particularly silk and satin, and psychologically engaging narratives. His works often pair men and women in ambiguous situations suggesting courtship or correspondence. The Sick Child (c. 1664) shows a mother tenderly caring for her ill child with remarkable emotional depth. Though he died at just 38, Metsu's reputation soared in the 18th and 19th centuries when collectors ranked him among the supreme Dutch masters. Today the Rijksmuseum holds The Sick Child, while works hang at the Metropolitan Museum, Louvre, National Gallery London, and the Uffizi.
19 paintings catalogued with museum locations

Gabriel Metsu, 1665
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Gabriel Metsu, 1665
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Gabriel Metsu
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Gabriel Metsu
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Gabriel Metsu
Wallace Collection, London

Gabriel Metsu
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Gabriel Metsu
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Gabriel Metsu
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Gabriel Metsu
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Gabriel Metsu
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Gabriel Metsu
Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, Leiden

Gabriel Metsu
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Gabriel Metsu
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Gabriel Metsu
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Madrid

Gabriel Metsu
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Gabriel Metsu
National Gallery, London

Gabriel Metsu
Private Collection, Unknown

Gabriel Metsu
National Gallery, London

Gabriel Metsu
Private Collection, Unknown
10 museums display Metsu's works. Click any museum to see visiting info and the specific works they hold.


Unknown, Unknown
2 works on display



Paris, France
3 works on display


London, UK
2 works on display


St. Petersburg, Russia
2 works on display

Madrid, Spain
1 work on display

Florence, Italy
1 work on display



Amsterdam, Netherlands
4 works on display

London, United Kingdom
1 work on display


Dublin, Ireland
2 works on display

Leiden, Netherlands
1 work on display
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