Old Woman Eating Porridge
Gabriel Metsu
(Dutch, 1629–1667)
about 1657
Medium/TechniqueOil on panel
Dimensions35.6 x 27.9 cm (14 x 11 in.)
Framed: 49.8 x 41.9 x 5.4 cm (19 5/8 x 16 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.)
Framed: 49.8 x 41.9 x 5.4 cm (19 5/8 x 16 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.)
Credit LinePromised gift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession numberL-R 294.2017
On View
On viewClassificationsPaintings
Collections
Even in paintings of humble settings, Dutch artists made a point of depicting surface textures with great care, often bathing ordinary objects with gentle light. This painting draws attention to various ceramic vessels that surround the woman, as well as her white linen clothes and tablecloth. Images of modest domesticity underscored the importance of thrift to the Protestant Dutch.
ProvenanceBefore 1684, Jacob Schardinel, Amsterdam [see note 1]. Antoni Bierens (b. about 1658 – d. 1747), Amsterdam; July 20, 1747, Bierens estate sale, De Stoppelaar, Amsterdam, lot 3 [see note 2]; probably sold to his son, Jacob Bierens (b. 1688 – d. 1762), Amsterdam [see note 3]; by descent within the family to Catharina Bierens de Haan (b. 1797 – d. 1835), Amsterdam [see note 4]; to her son, David Bierens de Haan (b. 1822 – d. 1895); November 15, 1881, Bierens de Haan sale, Muller, Amsterdam, lot 12, sold for fl. 13,000 to Sedelmeyer Gallery, Paris. Eugène Secrétan (b. 1836 – d. 1899), Paris; July 1-4, 1889, Secrétan sale, Paris, lot 143, sold for fr. 80,000 to Agnew and Sons (stock number 5354) on behalf of Edward C. Guinness, Bt. (b. 1847 – d. 1927), later Earl of Iveagh, Elveden Hall, Suffolk and Kenwood House, London; sold by the heirs of Lord Iveagh to Noortman Master Paintings, Maastricht; by 2004, sold by Noortman to a private collector, London [see note 5]. 2009, sold by Noortman Master Paintings to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Marblehead, MA.
NOTES:
[1] The inventory of the Jacob Schardinell estate was drawn up posthumously on August 5, 1684. See the Getty Provenance Index database, Archival Inventory no. N-101, item 6, listed as "an old woman eating porridge," by Metsu.
[2] The Bierens inventory is dated sometime between his death in 1747 and 1750. Getty Provenance Index database, Archival Inventory no. N-370, item 3, listed as “an old woman sitting eating,” by Metsu. For the 1747 sale, see Gerard Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelver pryzen zeedert een langen reeks van jaaren zoo in Holland als op andere plaatzen in het openbaar verkogt, vol. 2 (The Hague, 1752), p. 199.
[3] According to the introduction to the 1881 sale, upon the death of Antoni Bierens in 1747, his collection was required to be put up for auction. The Bierens family managed to preserve most of the collection by repurchasing many of the 29 paintings. See also: “Notes on Art and Archaeology,” The Academy 20 (October 15, 1881), p. 301.
[4] According to John Smith, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. 4 (1842), p. 518, no. 4, this painting was in the possession of Madame de Haan, Amsterdam.
[5] Information about the Earl of Iveagh’s purchase and sale by his heirs is taken from Jeroen Giltaij, et. al., Senses and Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century (Rotterdam, 2004), cat. no. 58.
NOTES:
[1] The inventory of the Jacob Schardinell estate was drawn up posthumously on August 5, 1684. See the Getty Provenance Index database, Archival Inventory no. N-101, item 6, listed as "an old woman eating porridge," by Metsu.
[2] The Bierens inventory is dated sometime between his death in 1747 and 1750. Getty Provenance Index database, Archival Inventory no. N-370, item 3, listed as “an old woman sitting eating,” by Metsu. For the 1747 sale, see Gerard Hoet, Catalogus of Naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelver pryzen zeedert een langen reeks van jaaren zoo in Holland als op andere plaatzen in het openbaar verkogt, vol. 2 (The Hague, 1752), p. 199.
[3] According to the introduction to the 1881 sale, upon the death of Antoni Bierens in 1747, his collection was required to be put up for auction. The Bierens family managed to preserve most of the collection by repurchasing many of the 29 paintings. See also: “Notes on Art and Archaeology,” The Academy 20 (October 15, 1881), p. 301.
[4] According to John Smith, Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, vol. 4 (1842), p. 518, no. 4, this painting was in the possession of Madame de Haan, Amsterdam.
[5] Information about the Earl of Iveagh’s purchase and sale by his heirs is taken from Jeroen Giltaij, et. al., Senses and Sins: Dutch Painters of Daily Life in the Seventeenth Century (Rotterdam, 2004), cat. no. 58.
Gabriel Metsu
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