A Young Woman seated drawing
- Artist: Gabriel Metsu
- Date: about 1655-60
- Medium: oil on wood
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is "A Young Woman seated drawing" painted in the style of Gabriel Metsu. The subject is engrossed in sketching a stone bust, propped up with pieces from a broken sculpture; hanging over the edge of the table is an engraving. Copying sculpture and images like this was part of an artist's training.
Look at the background, where you'll see an easel, books, a globe, and a classical arch and column - all evoking a wider world of learning and intellectual enquiry. Images of women quietly absorbed in their work were popular at the time, but often they depicted maids or women of modest means doing domestic chores.
This painting goes beyond that, though. The woman is expensively dressed, with a fur-trimmed jacket and gold-hemmed dress - certainly not working clothes. This image elevates artistic practice by stressing its intellectual context and confirms the status of women as artists, which was rare in seventeenth-century Holland.
The print lying on the table here tells us something about Metsu's own training as an artist. He left just enough of it visible for it to be identified - it's an etching by Lucas Vorsterman of a painting by Gerard Seghers. This adds another layer of connection and tradition, highlighting the contributions of many artists in this one piece.
See it in person
A Young Woman seated drawing hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
