322 GABRIEL METSU SECT. 2o6. A Man and Woman playing Chess. 21 inches by 18 inches. Sale. Seger Tierens, The Hague, July 23, 1743, No. 169 (30 florins). 207. THE SPORTSMAN. Sm. 78. A sportsman sits beside an arched window, looking with a smile at the spectator. His right hand rests on his hat, which lies on his knee. In the left hand he raises a Venetian glass full of wine. He wears a red jacket with a white lace collar and wrist-bands. On the window-sill are a dead pigeon, a powder horn, and a pewter pot. To the right stands a gun. Above, and in front of the window, is a trailing vine, the green leaves of which have turned blue with age. In the background to the left through an open window is seen a landscape. It is a very good picture. Signed and dated on the window-sill, "G. Metsu, 1661 " ; panel, 1 1 inches by 9 inches. Possibly a pendant of " The Learned Man " (209). Engraved by David, and in the " Musee Royal." In the collection of G. van Slingelandt (Hoet, ii. 404). In the cabinet of the Stadtholder William V. (Terw., p. 703). In Paris, 1795-1815, and then restored to the Hague. Now in the Royal Picture Gallery, The Hague, 1905 catalogue, No. 93. 208. THE PORTRAIT OF A PAINTER, SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT METSU HIMSELF. Sm. 73. A man of about thirty-five stands in an arched window of stone, almost facing the spectator. He wears a plumed cap and a fine red costume with white sleeves. He looks with a searching glance out of the picture as if he were sketching something. His drawing-board is propped against a box on the window-sill. He is in the act of correcting the sketch with a piece of white chalk ; in his left hand he holds his mahl-stick and brushes. A sketch of two nude men hangs from the window-sill. To the right, leaning against the casement, is a plaster cast of an antique bust of a girl. In the room behind is an easel. The window is overgrown with vine. "This is an admirable specimen of the master" (Sm.). Panel, 14^ inches by i inches. Described by Waagen (ii. 7). Compare also Moes, Iconographia Batava, 5005, Nos. I and 2. Exhibited in the British Gallery, 1826 and 1827. Sales. (Probably) Gerbrand Pancras, Amsterdam, April 7, 1716 (Hoet, i. 187), No. ii (82 florins). N. C. Hasselaar, Amsterdam, April 26, 1742, No. 4 (150 florins). In the collection of Sir Francis Baring, bought by the Prince Regent, 1814 (Cust). Now in the Royal collection, Buckingham Palace, London, 1885 catalogue, No. 13. 209. THE LEARNED MAN (or, The Alchemist). Sm. 30. At an arched window a learned man or alchemist sits in profile to the right, holding a large book open on his knees. He wears a tall hat and a buff vest with red sleeves ; his figure is seen at three-quarter length. On the window-sill are a mortar, an earthenware pot, and an ink-pot. A framed placard, with the figure of a man holding a bottle at the top of it,
