Woman Playing a Viola de Gamba 1663

Gabriel Metsu painted this portrait of a Woman Playing a Viola de Gamba using oils, likely in the 1660s, in the Netherlands. You can immediately see the great skill he had in creating this image. He has made the dress almost shimmer through his subtle handling of the paint, and made great use of precious ultramarine pigment in the curtain. The subject is also of interest. The viola da gamba was an elite instrument, associated with wealth and status, and would have been heard in the homes of the upper classes. The same could be said for this painting, and for other genre scenes by Metsu. While he was a superb artist, he was also an entrepreneur, making paintings for an expanding market of wealthy merchants. They wanted to see their own lives reflected back at them. So it is worth considering not just the artist's skill with the brush, but also his skill in understanding his market.