Buchanan, William: Memoirs of painting: with a chronological history of the importation of pictures by the great masters into England since the French Revolution (Band 2) (London: Ackermann, 1824)

ROBIT’S COLLECTION.

53

finest specimens of the master, and formerly orna-
mented the cabinets of Choiseul, and Randon de
Boisset. It was sold at the sale of Robit’s pictures
in Paris, for 7920 francs, and passed into the
collection of William Smith, Esq. M.P.
69. Gabriel Metzu—painted on canvas-—
21 inches by 22.
This picture represents three persons in the
interior of an apartment in Holland, preparing
for a concert. In the middle of the chamber is a
beautiful woman in a yellow silk gown, sitting
with her left hand on a lute placed with the
music on a table covered with a Turkey carpet;
she presents with her right hand a paper to a
personage dressed with a turban and red feathers :
this person, apparently of distinction, is leaning
against an open window, from which the subject
receives the light. On the left and in front also
near the table, a man dressed in black tunes his
violoncello, while in the back ground a servant
enters with refreshments. Numerous details, ably
distributed throughout the picture, contribute to
the richness and interest of this composition,
which comes from one of the finest collections in
Holland, where it was always considered to re-
present the portraits of the painter himself, his
wife, and Jan Stein.