page_title: Man Writing a Letter
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Man Writing a Letter / History
caption_attribution_description: Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelven pryzen. Uitgegeven door Gerard Hoet, 's Gravenhage: Pieter Gerard van Baalen, 1752, p. 242.
context_page_description: Man Writing a Letter is an oil painting on a wood panel by Gabriël Metsu made at the height of his career. It is assumed to be a pair with Woman Reading a Letter. The two genre paintings are regarded as Metsu's artistic climax. Since 1987 they can be seen in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.
context_section_description: Records indicate the paintings have always been owned as a pair. The paintings were owned by Hendrick Sorgh, an art collector in Amsterdam. After his death they were sold for 560 guilders on 28 March 1720 to George Bruyn. When this underwriter died  they were sold on 16 March 1724 for 785 guilders to Johannes Coop, a wealthy cotton printer and dyer. Circa 1744, and for 500 guilders, they came into the possession of Gerrit Braamcamp, a collector who owned no fewer than ten works by Metsu. His heirs benefited from the artist's popularity; on 31 July 1771 the two paintings were bought for 5,205 guilders by Jan Hope. In 1898, his descendant Duke Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope, 8th Duke of Newcastle, sold his entire collection, including the two Metsu paintings, to art dealers Wertheimer and Colnaghi & Co. in London. In 1900 the pair of paintings were bought by Alfred Beit, inherited by his brother Otto Beit (1906) and his son Sir Alfred Beit (1930). Both were among artworks stolen from Russborough House in 1974 and again in 1986, but were eventually recovered. In 1987 both paintings were donated to the National Gallery of Ireland, though they remained missing until 1993.
caption: Catalog by Gerard Hoet listing the pair as 1 and 2
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