Gabriël Metsu (1629–1667) was a Dutch painter of history paintings, still lifes, portraits, and genre works. He was "a highly eclectic artist, who did not adhere to a consistent style, technique, or one type of subject for long periods". Only 14 of his 133 works are dated.
Gabriël Metsu self-portrait, with his wife, in a inn (1661)
Man Writing a Letter (1662–1665) (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin)
The pendant Woman Reading a Letter, (1665) (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin)
An alley on Prinsengracht 369 close to where Metsu lived between number 351 and 353
Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations may be realistic, imagined, or romanticized by the artist. Some variations of the term genre art specify the medium or type of visual work, as in genre painting, genre prints, genre photographs, and so on.
The Idle Servant; housemaid troubles were the subject of several of Nicolaes Maes' works.
Peasant Dance, c. 1568, oil on wood, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Merry Company, by Dirck Hals
Interior with woman by Wybrand Hendriks
