The Sick Child

In a dim interior a pale child sits propped on a chair while the mother leans in, their faces close together in a fragile, tender exchange of care. Painted in the 1660s, this small scene is among the most affecting works of Gabriël Metsu, the Utrecht painter who excelled both at elegant company pictures and at quieter subjects of everyday life. The subdued light and the restrained, warm colouring draw the eye to the two figures alone and give the domestic vignette an unusual gravity, closer in mood to Vermeer and ter Borch than to the busy genre humour of the period.