The Sick Child (Metsu)

It has been held by the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam, since it was bought in 1928, with assistance from the Vereniging Rembrandt at a sale of works from the collection of Oscar Huldschinsky in Berlin.

He painted The Sick Child towards the end of his life, when his style resembled Pieter de Hooch or Johannes Vermeer, with bright light, weak shadows, and fresh even colours, but with thicker paint and coarser brushstrokes so a less refined style than Vermeer.

The mother's bright red skirt and blue apron, and the child's yellow and white clothes, contrast with the otherwise muted tones of the room.

A pot with a spoon lies unheeded on a table to the left, with the child too lethargic to eat.

Hanging on the wall is a map of Europe, which bears the artist's signature "G. Metsue", and a drawing of Christ on the cross, echoing the suffering in the room.