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A Musical Party

1659
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 614

Musical performance was a common pastime among the well-to-do and had strong associations with courtship in the Dutch Republic. Here, a richly dressed woman passes a songbook to the dandy behind her while maintaining a nonchalant grasp on the neck of her lute. Another beribboned gentleman tunes a viol, his sword cast off to the side, and a maid pauses in the doorway at the back with a tray of refreshments. For seventeenth-century viewers, symbolic elements such as the foot warmer would have indicated an atmosphere of indulgence and temptation.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Musical Party
  • Artist: Gabriël Metsu (Dutch, Leiden 1629–1667 Amsterdam)
  • Date: 1659
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 24 1/2 x 21 3/8 in. (62.2 x 54.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1890
  • Object Number: 91.26.11
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Seated Cavalier with Glass, Gabriël Metsu Dutch, Black chalk heightened with white on blue gray paper. Pasted down.
Seated Cavalier with Glass
Gabriël Metsu
mid-17th century
Tavern Scene, Gabriël Metsu Dutch, Oil on wood
Tavern Scene
Gabriël Metsu
The Visit to the Nursery, Gabriël Metsu Dutch, Oil on canvas
The Visit to the Nursery
Gabriël Metsu
1661
A Woman Seated at a Window, Gabriël Metsu Dutch, Oil on wood
A Woman Seated at a Window
Gabriël Metsu
early 1660s
Merry Company on a Terrace, Jan Steen Dutch, Oil on canvas
Merry Company on a Terrace
Jan Steen
ca. 1670

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