Page:Hofstede de Groot catalogue raisonné, Volume 1, 1908.djvu/340

 316 GABRIEL METSU SECT. 1920. A Lady and Gentleman conversing. Sale. Rotterdam, December 15, 1834, No. 63. 192^. A Lady and Gentleman. In a room a man sits at a table, with a pipe in his right hand. With his left arm he embraces a woman who is giving him advice. Signed with the monogram j panel, 9^ inches by 8| inches. Sale. Richardt, Rotterdam, October 26, 1882, No. 35. 193. THE OLD TOPER. Sm. 72. An old man, seen to the knees, sits facing the spectator. He wears a loose dark jacket with many buttons and a fur cap. He leans his right hand, in which is his pipe, on a cask ; in his left hand he holds a jug. This is very carefully executed, and the expression is extraordinarily delicate and true to life. [Com- pare 20 1.] Panel, 8| inches by 7 inches. Sales. P. J. de Smeth van Alphen, Amsterdam, August I, 1810, No. 60 (1560 florins, T. Spaen). H. Croese, Amsterdam, September 18, 1811, No. 47 (1400 florins, Muller). Gerrit Muller, Amsterdam, April 2, 1827, No. 44 (2860 florins, J. de Vries). Now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1905 catalogue, No. 1544 (old No. 908); where it was in 1833 (Sm.). 194. A WOMAN WITH A BEER-GLASS AND JUG. A woman, seen to the knees, sits to the right, holding in her left hand a half- filled glass which she seems to offer to some one out of the picture, and in her right hand a jug with the lid raised. She wears a red dress, a grey jacket showing the chemisette at the neck, a green apron, and a simple white cap on the back of her head. A cat leaps up at her and puts its fore-paws on her lap. It is a charming and delicate picture. Signed in full in the left upper corner j panel, 7 J inches by 6| inches. Compare Riegel, Beitr'dge, ii. 330 seq. From Salzdahlum. Now in the Picture Gallery, Brunswick, 1900 catalogue, No. 315. 195. THE SMOKER AT THE FIRESIDE. Sm. 116. A night scene. A man in a broad-brimmed hat sits in front of the fire in the right foreground. With his right hand he holds in the tongs a piece of glowing charcoal from which to light his pipe. Behind him, to the left, is a lighted lamp ; a maid-servant sets a jug on the table. Signed in full on the chimney-piece to the right ; panel, 1 1 inches by 9 inches. Sale. Van Wassenaar Obdam, The Hague, August 19, 1750, No. 45 (283 florins). First in the Dresden catalogue in 1817. Now in the Picture Gallery, Dresden, 1902 catalogue, No. 1737. 196. A MAN DRINKING. The man sits, turned three-quarters to the left, beside a cask, holding an earthenware jug in his right hand.