Smoker Seated at a Table
Gabriel Metsu(Leiden 1629 – 1667 Amsterdam)ca. 1654–57
oil on copper
22.4 x 18.8 cm
signed in dark paint along background, upper left
corner: “G.Metsu”
GM-111© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Smoker Seated at a Table
Page 2 of 8

How to cite
Waiboer, Adriaan. “Smoker Seated at a Table” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K.
Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–23. https://www.theleidencollection.com/archive/ (archivedDecember 2023).
A PDF of every version of this entry is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by apermanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Smoker Seated at a Table
Page 3 of 8Gabriel Metsu used almost exclusively canvas supports during his early years in

Comparative Figures

Leiden, but preferred small oak panels during his mature career in Amsterdam. Only
once did he choose a copper support, in 1654–57, when he painted Smoker Seated at aTable. The smooth surface of this relatively soft but durable metal allowed him toemploy a more meticulous technique than in his earlier paintings. Indeed, Smoker
Seated at a Table marks a significant step in Metsu’s artistic evolution during his firstyears in Amsterdam, at which time he gradually abandoned the fluid brushwork
characteristic of Jan Baptist Weenix (1621–60/61) in favor of the more refined andsofter technique of Gerrit Dou (1613–75). Although Metsu’s technique here does notmatch the delicacy of Dou’s manner of painting or that of his own highly finishedpaintings from later in his career, Smoker Seated at a Table reflects his deliberate
move towards “fine” painting in the Leiden manner.[1] Metsu painted in this way
either to meet an existing demand for “fine” paintings in Amsterdam or to create amarket for such works on his own accord.[2]Fig 1. Detail of Gabriel Metsu, AWoman Offering a Glass of Wine to aMan, 1658–60, oil on canvas, 40.6 x
35.5 cm, private collection

The painting represents a middle-aged bearded man who sits at a table enjoying asmoke. He holds his pipe upside down to light the tobacco by dipping it into theburning coals in an earthenware brazier. The small black board with an arched top in
the left background indicates that the setting is a tavern. Innkeepers and serving staff
used such slate panels to tally their customers’ drinks, as can be seen in the
background of Metsu’s A Woman Offering a Glass of Wine to a Man (fig 1). The
smoker who, to judge from his woolen suit and round hat, is a farmer, has alreadybeen served his beer in a white tankard that rests on his table.[3] He looks out at theviewer with a brazen yet sympathetic gaze, not unlike that of the bearded figure in
Public Notary (GM-101), which Metsu had completed a few years earlier.
The present painting belongs to a long tradition of Dutch and Flemish images of men

Fig 2. Gabriel Metsu, An Old Man
Holding a Pipe and a Jug, 1661–63, oil
on panel, 22 x 19.5 cm, Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam, SK-A-250

drinking and smoking in a tavern—paintings commonly seen in collectors’ homes, theshops of art dealers, and the workshops of other painters. Metsu depicted this subject
no less than five times, the most renowned of which is An Old Man Holding a Pipeand a Jug from the mid-1650s (fig 2).[4] Metsu’s depictions of older men and women
engaged in their individual activities owes much to Dou, who had featured elderly
people in many of his early paintings.[5] Unlike other of Metsu’s works, however,neither the composition nor the male figure in this painting has a precedent in Dou’sworks. In fact, the man’s facial features do not even reappear in other paintings byMetsu, which raises the possibility that Smoker Seated at a Table is a genre-likeportrait.
The coloration of Smoker Seated at a Table relates closely to Metsu’s other early
Amsterdam paintings, among them A Woman with a Jug and a Man with a Pipe (fig 3Fig 3. Gabriel Metsu, A Woman with aJug and a Man with a Pipe, 1654–57,
oil on canvas, 33 x 29.2 cm,
Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum,
Cheltenham, Baron de Ferrières© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Smoker Seated at a Table
Page 4 of 8). During this period of his career Metsu characteristically set off flesh tones, whites
and areas of bright color, often bluish-greens or orange-reds, against a graybequest, 1898, © Cheltenham Art
Gallery & Museums, Gloucestershire,
UK / Bridgeman Images

background. In A Woman with a Jug and a Man with a Pipe, the woman’s apron is thesingle coloristic focal point, whereas in Smoker Seated at a Table it is the rim of theman’s hat. Metsu’s sensitivity toward color is evident in the way he has here
modulated the gray tonality of the painting with the browns of the earthenware
brazier, the wooden table, and the upholstery of the chair.
Smoker Seated at a Table includes a number of objects that appear in some of Metsu’sother paintings. The table, for example, is seen in several later works, including AMan Offering a Glass of Wine to a Woman, which Metsu completed in 1667, the lastyear of his life.[6] It is likely that the artist owned this piece of furniture. The same isprobably true for the earthenware brazier and the white jug. Although the samechimney does not feature in other paintings, it does resemble those in other ofMetsu’s early Amsterdam works, including A Woman with a Jug and a Man with aPipe.
Although it appears differently today, Metsu originally signed A Smoker Seated at aTable in the top left corner with an unusual signature: G.Metsùe.[7] The artist generally
inscribed his name GMetsu or Gmetsu (G and m in ligature), but he added an E to hisname in eleven extant works. Most of these date from the last few years of his life.[8]What may have prompted him to vary his signature is unknown. Some of the artist’s
distant family members are also known to have signed their name Metsue.[9] It should
be noted that consistency in spelling was not as important in the seventeenth century
as it is today, and people often wrote their names in different ways.

- Adriaan Waiboer, 2017; revised 2022

© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Smoker Seated at a Table
Page 5 of 8Endnotes
1. It should be noted that, as far as we know, Dou always painted on wood panels and only used a metal
support on one occasion. This exceptional example is also in The Leiden Collection: Gerrit Dou’s
Portrait of Dirck van Beresteyn, which the artist painted on an unusual alloy of silver and copper.
2. Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., “Review of Robinson 1974,” Art Bulletin 58 (1976): 458, already mentionedthat Dou’s influence on Metsu’s early Amsterdam paintings may have been “a response to a market inAmsterdam for Dou-like paintings.” See also Adriaan E. Waiboer, Gabriel Metsu, Life and Work: ACatalogue Raisonné (New Haven, 2012), 33.
3. I am grateful to Marieke de Winkel for her observations about the identification of the sitter as a farmer
on the basis of his clothes: personal communication, 2000.
4. For more on this painting, see Adriaan E. Waiboer, Gabriel Metsu, Life and Work: A Catalogue Raisonné(New Haven, 2012), 105–6, 243–44, no. A-101, ill.; for Metsu’s other paintings of smoking man, seeibid., 197, no. A-51; 198, no. A-52; 245, no. A-103, all ill.
5. Adriaan E. Waiboer, Gabriel Metsu, Life and Work: A Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, 2012), 33–43.
6. Adriaan E. Waiboer, Gabriel Metsu, Life and Work: A Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, 2012), 198, no.
A-52; 272, no. A-133, both ill.
7. The present appearance of the signature appears to be the result of earlier restoration campaigns, whichwere completed before the painting entered The Leiden Collection. According to observations made by
Annette Rupprecht in 2013, under magnification the line crossing the “t” and the “u” and the areasurrounding the “u” have been reworked. Earlier published transcriptions of the signature display a more
distinctive slanting of the letters and a cursive-like script. The upright and regular lettering of the “s” and“u” visible today is thus likely different than Metsu originally intended. See the technical examination
report kept on file at The Leiden Collection, and for the transcription of the signature, see OlafGranberg, Catalogue raisonné de tableaux anciens inconnus jusqu’ici dans les collections privées de la
Suede (Stockholm, 1886), 23, no. 39.
8. Adriaan E. Waiboer, Gabriel Metsu, Life and Work: A Catalogue Raisonné (New Haven, 2012), 249, no.
A-107; 252, no. A-111; 253, no. A-112; 253–54, no. A-113; 255, no. A-116; 259, no. A-118; 264–65,no. A-124; 268, no. A-128; 271–72, no. A-132; 272, no. A-133.
9. See Jan Briels, Vlaamse schilders en de dageraad van Hollands Gouden Eeuw, 1585–1630 (Antwerp,1997), 359 (under J. Metsu), note 2.

Provenance© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Smoker Seated at a Table
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Count de Dubarry (his sale, Pierre Rémy and P. le Brun, Paris, 21 November 1774, no. 33 [to Le Brunfor 240 francs]).
De Ghendt (his sale, Basan and Guilleaumon, Paris, 15 November 1779, no. 73 [to Langlier for 300francs]);
Gustaf Adolf Sparre (1746–94), Sahlgren-Sparre Palace, Gothenburg or Kulla Gunnarstorp, nearHelsingborg; by descent to his widow, Elisabeth Sofia Amalia Beata Sparre (née Ramel), Kulla
Gunnarstorp, died 1830; by descent to her grandson Gustaf Adolf de la Gardie (1800–33); by descent tohis father Jacob Gustaf de la Gardie (1768–1842).
Count Carl de Geer af Leufstra (1781–1861), (who purchased Kulla Gunnarstorp in 1837 and the entire
Sparre collection by ca. 1840); by descent to his granddaughter, 1855, and moved, with the entire
collection, to her house at Vänas, Knislinge, Southern Sweden.
Count Carl-Axel Wachtmeister (1921–2011), Vänas, Knislinge.
(Sale, Christie’s London, 14 December 1990, no. 122, bought in; sale, Christie’s London, 13 December
1991, no. 43, bought in).
(Sale, Sotheby’s, London, 5 December 2007, no. 8; [Johnny van Haeften, London, 2007]).
From whom acquired by the present owner.

Exhibition History
Stockholm, Bukowski, “Äldre mästares taflor ur Svenska privatsamlingar,” May–June 1884,” no. 109[lent by Count Wachtmeister, Vanås].
Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, “Holländska Mästare I Svensk Ägo,” 3 March–30 April 1967, no. 99 [lentby Count Wachtmeister, Vanås].
Kristianstad, Kristianstads Museum, “Ur Gustav Adolf Sparres konstsamling på Wanås,” 12 February–6
March 1977, no. 26 [lent by Count Wachtmeister, Vanås].
Beijing, National Museum of China, “Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The LeidenCollection,” 17 June–3 September 2017 [lent by the present owner].
Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund, “Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age:
Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection,” 23 September 2017–25 February 2018 [lent by the presentowner].
Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpiecesof The Leiden Collection,” 28 March 2018–22 July 2018 [lent by the present owner].
St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum, “The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces ofThe Leiden Collection,” 5 September 2018–13 January 2019 [lent by the present owner].
© 2024 The Leiden Collection

Smoker Seated at a Table
Page 7 of 8References
Granberg, Olaf. Äldre mästares taflor ur Svenska privatamlingar. Exh. cat. Stockholm, Bukowski.
Stockholm, 1884, no. 109.
Granberg, Olaf. Sveriges private tafvelsamlingar. Stockholm, 1885, 75, no. 152.
Granberg, Olaf. Catalogue raisonné de tableaux anciens inconnus jusqu’ici dans les collections privées dela Suede. Stockholm, 1886, 23, no. 39.
Göthe, Georg. Tafvelsamlingen på Wanås. Stockholm, 1895, no. 41.
Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of
the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith. Edited and translated by Edward G. Hawke.
London, 1908, 1: 318–19, no. 201.
Granberg, Olof. Inventaire général des trésors d’art: Peintures & sculptures, principalement de maîtresétrangers (non Scandinaves). Stockholm, 1911, 1: 82, no. 375; 2: pl. 21.
Gudlaugsson, Sturla J. “Kanttekeningen bij de ontwikkeling van Metsu.” Oud-Holland 83 (1968): 26n28.
Kjellberg, Sven T. Slott och herresäten i Sverige. Malmö, 1966, 3: 337, 340–41, 344.
Hasselgren, Ingmar. Konstsamlaren Gustaf Adolf Sparre, 1746–1794: Hans studieresa, vaaning och
konstsamling i Goeteborg. Goteborg, 1974, 117, 127, 180.
Robinson, Franklin W. Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667): A Study of His Place in Dutch Genre Painting of theGolden Age. New York, 1974, 48, fig. 111.
Waiboer, Adriaan E. “Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667), Life and Work.” PhD diss. New York University,2007, 1: 108–9, 408, no. A-18, 4: 1067.
Waiboer, Adriaan E. Gabriel Metsu, Life and Work: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, 2012, 40, 179,no. A-26.
McCarthy, Alexa. “Smoker Seated at a Table.” In Rembrandt and His Time: Masterpieces from The
Leiden Collection. Edited by Lara Yeager-Crasselt, 114–15; 183, no. 47. Translated by Li Ying. Exh. cat.
Beijing, National Museum of China. Beijing, 2017.
Long Museum, West Bund. Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals in the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces fromThe Leiden Collection. Exh. cat. Shanghai, Long Museum, West Bund. Shanghai, 2017, 160.
McCarthy, Alexa. “Smoker Seated at a Table.” In The Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer: Masterpieces ofThe Leiden Collection. Edited by Polina Lyubimova, 122–23; 237, no. 28. Translated by Daria Babichand Daria Kuzina. Exh. cat. Moscow, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, The State
Hermitage Museum. Moscow, 2018.

Technical Summary© 2024 The Leiden CollectionPowered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

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The support, a rectangular, rolled sheet of copper, has substantial weight and does not flex when handled.[1]There are no indentations or undulation and the support remains perfectly in plane. There are two layers ofoxidation products, a continuous brown layer and mottled black spots. There are six labels and one black
stencil but no wax collection seals or maker’s marks.
A light gray ground has been thinly and evenly applied. The figure’s face was laid in with a free underpaint,
which remains exposed along the corners of the eye and nose, followed by delicately blended final paint built
up with fine strokes.[2]No underdrawing is readily apparent in infrared images captured at 780–1000 nanometers. The images and apentimento indicate the top of the figure’s hat was made taller and altered during the paint stage to create two
diagonal angles and a less rounded shape.
The painting is signed in dark paint along the background in the upper left corner but is undated.
The painting was cleaned and restored in 2008 and remains in a good state of preservation.

Technical Summary Endnotes

1. According to Isabel Horovitz, Copper as Canvas: Two Centuries of Masterpiece Paintings on Copper,1575–1775 (New York, 1999), 67–68, “a highly worked sheet of copper will be less flexible than one
that is not highly worked, and this is why quite thin (0.5 mm) sheets of copper can provide suchexcellent rigid supports for paint films.”
2. According to 2009 examination notes by E. Melanie Gifford, Scientific Department, National Gallery ofArt, Washington.

© 2024 The Leiden Collection