Masters in Art Volume 7; A Series of Illustrated Monographs by Books Group

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 ...a short gray beard. His face wears a blissful expression as, leaning his arm on a cask of beer, he holds his pipe in one hand and in the other a pewter mug which he rests upon his knee.... He is dressed in a warm gray coat and a fine red cap trimmed with brown fur. His every want is supplied; he is perfectly content. Above the barrel, hanging on nails against the wall, are a stone jug and a slate. The rest of the background is of a neutral color--a delicate harmony of pearl-gray." The other picture reproduced in plate vm, 'An Old Woman Reading, ' was acquired by the Ryks Museum, Amsterdam, in 1880. Dr. Bredius considers it one of Metsu's most remarkable works--"the masterpiece among his pictures of a single figure." "With what consummate art,"he says,"the head and hands of this old woman, probably the painter's mother, are modeled! what truth of expression in the venerable face! It is certainly one of Metsu's last works; one of those in which Rembrandt's influence is most apparent." The panel measures about eleven inches high by eight and a half inches wide. 'THE DUET1 PLATE IX IN a simply furnished room a lady dressed in a scarlet waist and dull red silk skirt is seated at a table covered with a Turkish cloth, on which a bass viol is lying. She holds a sheet of music in her hand, apparently in readiness to accompany with her voice the gentleman who stands behind the table tuning his violin. At the left is a window hung with green curtains, and at the lady's side is a pet spaniel--an accessory rarely lacking in Metsu's works. The predominating hue of this picture, formerly in Sir Robert Peel's collection, but now in the National Gallery, London, is red--red in varying shades--a color for which Metsu, like many of the Dutchm...