Elisha refusing the gifts of Naaman, by de Grebber

Pieter Fransz de Grebber (c. 1600, Haarlem–1652/3^[1], Haarlem) was a Dutch Golden Age painter.

Life[link]

De Grebber was the oldest son of Frans Pietersz de Grebber (1573–1643), a painter and embroiderer in Haarlem, and the brother of the painters Maria and Albert.^[2] He learned to paint from his father and from Hendrick Goltzius.^[2] He was descended from a Catholic and artistic family and his sister Maria later became the mother-in-law of Gabriel Metsu. He was a friend of the priest and musicologist Jan Albertszoon Ban, and had a poem set to music by the Haarlem composer Cornelis Padbrué. In 1632 he became a member of the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke, but he had already been active as a painter for 10 years.^[2] His pupils were Gerbrand Ban, Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem, Egbert van Heemskerck, and Dirck Helmbreeker.^[2]

In 1618, father and son went to Antwerp and negotiated with Peter Paul Rubens over the sale of his painting "Daniel in the lions pit". It was then handed - via the English ambassador in the Republic, Sir Dudley Carleton - to king Charles I. Pieter got important commissions not only in Haarlem, but also from the stadholder Frederik Hendrik. As such, he worked on the decoration of the Huis Honselaarsdijk in Naaldwijk and at the Paleis Noordeinde in Huis ten Bosch in the Hague. He painted altar pieces for churches in Flanders and hidden Catholic churches in the Republic. He may also have worked for Danish clients.

Pieter remained single and lived from 1634 until his death at the Haarlem Béguinage.

Work[link]

Haarlem receives a sword for its shield from the German emperor in thanks for the victory in Damietta during the 5th crusade. Scene is now referred to as "the legend of the Haarlem shield" (Frans Hals Museum).

Besides history paintings, Pieter de Grebber also painted a number of portraits; furthermore many drawings and a few etchings by him have survived. From different influences, such as the Utrecht Caravaggistism, Rubens and also Rembrandt, he came up with a very personal style. He was, together with Salomon de Bray, the forerunner and first peak of the "Haarlem classicism" school, producing paintings characterized by a well-organized clarity and light tints.

In 1649, De Grebber wrote the treatise "Regulen welcke by een goet Schilder en Teyckenaar geobserveert en achtervolght moeten werden" (Rules which a good Painter and Master of Drawing should observe). In this document he explains the most important eleven rules which he believes classicist painters should be careful to observe. Although the Classicists did not swear by such rules, these were nevertheless always tightly observed. Almost all of these rules are taken from Karel van Mander's own Mannerist Schilder-boeck, in which history painting was presented as the highest of the hierarchy of genres.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pieter Fransz. de Grebber

Dutch Biografisch Portaal 29292899

References[link]

• Bijlage Vrij Nederland, September 1999 (Available free of charge in museum Boijmans Van Beuningen during the exhibition "Dutch Classicism - the other face of the Golden Century").

External links[link]

• Works at WGA
• Biography at lib-art.com
• Works and literature at PubHist

Mario Lanza (January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16. He was born Alfred Arnold Cocozza. He changed his name when he signed with MGM. His mother's maiden name was Maria Lanza.

After appearing at the Hollywood Bowl in 1947, Lanza signed a seven-year contract with MGM's head, Louis B. Mayer, who saw his performance and was impressed by his singing. Prior to this, the adult Lanza had sung only two performances of an opera. The following year (1948), however, he would sing the role of Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly in New Orleans.^{[citation needed]}

His movie debut was in That Midnight Kiss (1949) with Kathryn Grayson and Ethel Barrymore. The following year, in The Toast of New Orleans, his featured popular song "Be My Love" became his first million-selling hit. In 1951, he played the role of Enrico Caruso (1873–1921), his tenor idol, in the biopic, The Great Caruso, which produced another million-seller with "The Loveliest Night of the Year" (a song which used the melody of Sobre las Olas). The Great Caruso was the top-grossing film that year.^[1]

The title song of his next film, Because You're Mine, featured his final million-selling hit song. The song went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. After recording the soundtrack for his next film, The Student Prince he embarked upon a protracted battle with Studio Head Dore Schary arising from artistic differences with director Curtis Bernhardt, and was eventually dismissed by MGM.^[2]

Lanza was known to be "rebellious, tough, and ambitious",^[3] and during most of his film career, he suffered from addictions to overeating and alcohol which had a serious effect on his health and his relationships with directors, producers and, occasionally, other cast members. Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper writes that "his smile, which was as big as his voice, was matched with the habits of a tiger cub, impossible to housebreak". She adds that he was the "last of the great romantic performers".^[4] He made three more films before dying of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 38. At the time of his death in 1959 he was still "the most famous tenor in the world".^[5] Author Eleonora Kimmel concludes that Lanza "blazed like a meteor whose light lasts a brief moment in time".^[6]

Early years[link]

Born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was exposed to classical singing at an early age by his Abruzzese-Molisan Italian parents, Maria (Lanza) and Antonio Cocozza.^[7][8] By the age of 16, his vocal talent had become apparent. Starting out in local operatic productions in Philadelphia for the YMCA Opera Company while still in his teens, he later came to the attention of conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who in 1942 provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Reportedly, Koussevitzky would later tell him, "Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years."^{[citation needed]}

Opera career[link]

His opera debut, as Fenton in Otto Nicolai's The Merry Wives of Windsor (in English), came at the Berkshire Music Festival in Tanglewood on August 7, 1942, after a period of study with conductors Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein. This was when Cocozza adopted the stage name Mario Lanza, for its similarity to his mother’s maiden name, Maria Lanza.^{[citation needed]}

His performances at Tanglewood won him critical acclaim, with Noel Straus of The New York Times hailing the 21-year-old tenor as having "few equals among tenors of the day in terms of quality, warmth, and power". Herbert Graf subsequently wrote in the Opera News of October 5, 1942 that, "A real find of the season was Mario Lanza [...] He would have no difficulty one day being asked to join the Metropolitan Opera". Lanza performed the role of Fenton twice at Tanglewood, in addition to appearing there in a one-off presentation of Act III of Puccini's La bohème with the noted Mexican soprano Irma González, baritone James Pease, and mezzo-soprano Laura Castellano. Music critic Jay C. Rosenfeld wrote in The New York Times of August 9, 1942 that, "Miss González as Mimì and Mario Lanza as Rodolfo were conspicuous by the beauty of their voices and the vividness of their characterizations." In an interview shortly before her own death in 2008, González recalled that Lanza was "very correct, likeable, [and] with a powerful and beautiful voice".^{[citation needed]}

Lanza as Giuseppe Verdi's Otello

His budding operatic career was interrupted by World War II, when he was assigned to Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He appeared in the wartime shows On the Beam and Winged Victory. He also appeared in the film version of the latter (albeit as an unrecognizable member of the chorus). He resumed his singing career with a concert in Atlantic City with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in September 1945 under the baton of Peter Herman Adler, who subsequently became a mentor to him. The following month, Lanza replaced tenor Jan Peerce on the live CBS radio program Great Moments in Music, on which he made six appearances over a period of four months, singing extracts from various operas and other works.^{[citation needed]}

He then studied with noted teacher Enrico Rosati for fifteen months, after which Lanza embarked on an 86-concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948 with George London and soprano Frances Yeend. Reviewing his second appearance at Chicago's Grant Park in July 1947 in the Chicago Sunday Tribune, the respected music critic Claudia Cassidy praised Lanza's "superbly natural tenor" and observed that "though a multitude of fine points evade him, he possesses the things almost impossible to learn. He knows the accent that makes a lyric line reach its audience, and he knows why opera is music drama."^{[citation needed]}

In April 1948, Lanza sang two performances as Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association. The conductor was Walter Herbert, the stage director was Armando Agnini. Writing in the St. Louis News, critic Laurence Odel observed that, "Mario Lanza performed his duties as Lieutenant Pinkerton with considerable verve and dash. Rarely have we seen a more superbly romantic leading tenor. His exceptionally beautiful voice helps immeasurably." Following the success of these performances, Lanza was invited to return to New Orleans in 1949 as Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata. However, as biographer Armando Cesari observes, by 1949 Lanza "was already deeply engulfed in the Hollywood machinery and consequently never learned the role [of Alfredo]".^{[citation needed]}

Film career[link]

A concert at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1947 had brought Lanza to the attention of Louis B. Mayer, who promptly signed Lanza to a seven-year film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This proved to be a turning point in the young singer's career.^{[citation needed]} The contract required him to commit to the studio for six months, and at first Lanza believed he would be able to combine his film career with his operatic and concert one. In May 1949, he made his first commercial recordings with RCA Victor. His rendition of the aria "Che gelida manina" (from La bohème) from that session was subsequently awarded the prize of Operatic Recording of the Year by the (United States) National Record Critics Association.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Toast of New Orleans

Lanza's first two starring films, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, were commercial successes, and in 1950 his recording of "Be My Love" became the first of three million-selling singles for the young singer, earning him enormous fame in the process. While at MGM, Lanza worked closely with the Academy Award-winning conductor, composer, and arranger Johnny Green. In a 1977 interview with Lanza biographer Armando Cesari, Green recalled that the tenor was insecure about the manner in which he had become successful, and was keenly aware of the fact that he had become a Hollywood star before first having established himself on the operatic stage.

"Had [Lanza] been already a leading tenor, if not the leading tenor at the Met[ropolitan Opera House], and come to Hollywood in between seasons to make a picture, he would have had [the security of having] the Met as his home," Green remarked. According to Green, Lanza possessed "the voice of the next Caruso. [Lanza] had an unusual, very unusual quality...a tenor with a baritone color in the middle and lower registers, and a great feeling for the making of music. A great musicality. I found it fascinating, musically, to work with [him]".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Great Caruso

In 1951, Lanza portrayed Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso, which proved an astonishing success, though it did not adhere strictly to the facts of Caruso's life. At the same time, Lanza's increasing popularity exposed him to intense criticism by some music critics, including those who had praised his work years earlier. His performance earned him compliments from the subject's son, Enrico Caruso Jr., a tenor in his own right. Shortly before his own death in 1987, Enrico Jr. wrote in Enrico Caruso: My Father and My Family (posthumously published by Amadeus in 1990) that, "I can think of no other tenor, before or since Mario Lanza, who could have risen with comparable success to the challenge of playing Caruso in a screen biography... Lanza was born with one of the dozen or so great tenor voices of the century, with a natural voice placement, an unmistakable and very pleasing timbre, and a nearly infallible musical instinct." He went on to praise Lanza's tempi and phrasing, "flawless" diction, and "impassioned" delivery, adding that, "All are qualities that few singers are born with and others can never attain." In conclusion, he wrote that, "Lanza excelled in both the classical and the light popular repertory, an accomplishment that was beyond even my father's exceptional talents."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Student Prince

In 1952, Lanza was dismissed by MGM after he had pre-recorded the songs for The Student Prince. The reason most frequently cited in the tabloid press at the time was that his recurring weight problem had made it impossible for him to fit into the costumes of the Prince.^{[citation needed]} However, as his biographers Cesari and Mannering have established, Lanza was not overweight at the beginning of the production, and it was, in fact, a disagreement with director Curtis Bernhardt over Lanza's singing of one of the songs in the film that led to Lanza walking off the set. MGM refused to replace Bernhardt, and the film was subsequently made with actor Edmund Purdom miming to Lanza's voice. Ironically, the eventual director of the film was Richard Thorpe, the same man whom Lanza had pleaded with MGM to replace Bernhardt, and with whom the tenor had enjoyed an excellent working relationship in The Great Caruso.^{[citation needed]}

Depressed by his dismissal, and with his self-confidence severely undermined, Lanza became a virtual recluse for more than a year, frequently seeking refuge in alcoholic binges. During this period, Lanza also came very close to bankruptcy as a result of poor investment decisions by his former manager, and his lavish spending habits left him owing about $250,000 in back taxes to the IRS.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Serenade

Lanza returned to an active film career in 1955 in Serenade, released by Warner Bros. However the film was not as successful as his previous films, despite its strong musical content, including arias from Der Rosenkavalier, Fedora, L'arlesiana, and Otello, as well as the Act III duet from Otello with soprano Licia Albanese. He then moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome, and returned to live performing in a series of acclaimed concerts throughout the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe. Despite a number of cancellations, which resulted from his failing health during this period, Lanza continued to receive offers for operatic appearances, concerts, and films.^{[citation needed]} In 1958, for example, he gave a concert tour of the UK.^[9]

In September 1958, he made a number of operatic recordings at the Rome Opera House for the soundtrack of what would turn out to be his final film, For the First Time. The Artistic Director of the Rome Opera, Riccardo Vitale, offered him the role of Canio in Pagliacci in the theater's 1960/61 season. Lanza received offers from the management of the La Scala and San Carlo opera houses. However, his health continued to decline, with the tenor suffering from a variety of ailments, including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure. His old habits of overeating and crash dieting, coupled with binge drinking, compounded his problems.^{[citation needed]}. On The story of Variety with Michael Grade (BBC 4, 30 May 2012) it was revealed that Lanza was often violent when drunk and that he suffered from the DT's, seeing things that were not there.

Death[link]

In April 1959, Lanza suffered a minor heart attack, followed by double pneumonia in August. He died in Rome in October of that year at the age of 38 from a pulmonary embolism after undergoing a controversial weight loss program colloquially known as "the twilight sleep treatment," which required its patients to be kept immobile and sedated for prolonged periods. Attenders at his funeral were the singers Maria Caniglia and Lidia Nerozzi and the actors Franco Fabrizi and Enzo Fiermonte. Frank Sinatra sent his condolences by telegram.^[10]

From the film Toast of New Orleans, as Lt. Pinkerton USN, in recreation of the opera Madama Butterfly, the only full professional opera Lanza ever appeared in

Lanza's widow, Betty, moved back to Hollywood with their four children, but died five months later at the age of 37. Biographer Armando Cesari writes that the apparent cause of death, according to the coroner, was "asphyxiation resulting from a respiratory ailment for which she had been receiving medication". In 1991, Marc, the younger of their two sons, died of a heart attack at the age of 37; six years later, Colleen, their elder daughter, was killed at the age of 48 when she was struck by two passing vehicles on a highway. Damon Lanza, the couple's elder son, died in August 2008 of a heart attack at the age of 55.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[link]

Lanza's short career covered opera, radio, concerts, recordings, and motion pictures. He was the first artist for RCA Victor Red Seal to receive a gold disc and the first artist to sell two and half million albums. A highly influential artist, Lanza has been credited with inspiring successive generations of opera singers, including Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci and José Carreras. Singers with seemingly different backgrounds and influences were also inspired by his singing, including his RCA Victor label-mate Elvis Presley.^{[citation needed]}

Lanza was referred to by some sources as the "new Caruso", after his "instant success" in Hollywood films,^[11] while MGM hoped that he would become the movie studio's "singing Clark Gable" due to his good looks and powerful voice.^[3]

In 1994, tenor José Carreras paid tribute to Lanza in a worldwide concert tour, saying of him, "If I'm an opera singer, it's thanks to Mario Lanza."^[12] Carreras' colleague, Plácido Domingo, echoed these comments in a 2009 CBS interview when he stated, "Lanza's passion and the way his voice sounds are what made me sing opera. I actually owe my love for opera thanks to a kid from Philadelphia."^[13]

Today, the "magnitude of his contribution to popular music is still hotly debated", and because he appeared on the opera stage only twice, many critics feel that he needed to have had more "operatic quality time" in major theatres before he could be considered a star of that art form.^[5] His films, especially The Great Caruso, influenced numerous future opera stars, including Joseph Calleja^[14], José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti.^[5] According to opera historian Clyde McCants, "Of all the Hollywood singers who performed operatic music . . . the one who made the greatest impact was Mario Lanza."^[15] Hedda Hopper concludes that "there had never been anyone like Mario, and I doubt whether we shall ever see his like again".^[4]

Portrayal on stage[link]

In October 2007, Charles Messina directed the big budget musical Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Story, written by Richard Vetere, about Lanza's life, which was produced by Sonny Grosso and Phil Ramone. It premiered at The Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Greenvale, New York.^[16]

Legacy[link]

The persona and music of Mario Lanza are featured in the 1994 Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures.

Miljenko Jergovic mentions Lanza in his Dvori od oraha (The Mansion in Walnut) novel of 2003 as a part of story about Luka Sikiric.

Mario Lanza Boulevard is a roadway in the Eastwick section of Lanza's native Philadelphia, close to Philadelphia International Airport and ending on the grounds of the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

The Mario Lanza Institute and Museum, which honors Lanza's legacy and also provides scholarships to young singers, is located at 712 Montrose Street in South Philadelphia. Link label

Philadelphia's Queen Street Park was renamed for Lanza in 1967. Link label

Lanza was born at 636 Christian Street in South Philadelphia. A Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission marker stands outside of the house.

A large mural dedicated to Lanza stands at Broad and Reed Streets in Philadelphia.

Filmography[link]

• Winged Victory, Twentieth Century-Fox 1944 (uncredited chorus member)
• That Midnight Kiss, MGM 1949
• The Toast of New Orleans, MGM 1950
• The Great Caruso, MGM 1951
• Because You're Mine, MGM 1952
• The Student Prince, MGM 1954 (voice only)
• Serenade, Warner Bros. 1956
• Seven Hills of Rome, MGM 1958
• For the First Time, MGM 1959

Select recordings[link]

• The Mario Lanza Collection, RCA, 1991
• Mario Lanza: The Legendary Tenor, RCA, 1987
• The Great Caruso And Other Caruso Favorites, RCA, 1989
• Mario! Lanza At His Best, RCA, 1995
• Mario Lanza Live at Hollywood Bowl: Historical Recordings (1947 & 1951), Gala Records, 2000
• Mario Lanza Sings Songs from The Student Prince and The Desert Song, RCA, 1989
• Serenade/A Cavalcade of Show Tunes, RCA, 2004
• Mario Lanza: Opera Arias and Duets, RCA, 1999
• Christmas With Mario Lanza, RCA, 1987
• Mario Lanza Live From London, RCA, 1994
• The Essential Mario Lanza RCA, 2007

Box Office Ranking[link]

At the height of his career, exhibitors voted Lanza among the most popular stars at the box office:

• 1951 - 13th most popular star in the US and Canada, 10th most popular in Britain^[17]
• 1952 - 23rd most popular star in the US and Canada, 6th most popular in Britain^[18]

References[link]

Additional reading material[link]

• Callinicos, Constantine. "The Mario Lanza Story" (New York, NY, 1960). (Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 60-12480)
• Lanza, Damon & Dolfi, Bob. "Be My Love: A Celebration of Mario Lanza" (Chicago, IL, 1999) (ISBN 1-56625-129-X)
• Bessette, Roland L. "Mario Lanza: Tenor In Exile" (Portland, OR) (ISBN 1-57467-044-1)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mario Lanza

• Lanza Legend
• Mario Lanza at the Internet Movie Database
• Mario Lanza at the Internet Broadway Database
• Mario Lanza discography at Discogs
• MarioLanza.net Hosted by Jeff Rense.
• Mario Lanza, Tenor – Essays, videos, rare recordings, discography and forum.
• History of the Tenor – Sound Clips and Narration
• [2]

Gabriël Metsu
Man Writing a Letter (1662-1665), Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
Born	January 1629 Leiden, Dutch Republic
Died	buried 24 October 1667 (age 38) Amsterdam, Dutch Republic
Nationality	Dutch
Field	Painting
Training	Said to have studied under Gerard Dou
Influenced by	Jan Steen, Frans van Mieris the Elder, Jan Vermeer
Influenced	Jan Vermeer

Gabriël Metsu (January 1629 – buried 24 October 1667) was a Dutch painter of history paintings, genre works and portraits.

Life[link]

Metsu was the son of the Flemish painter Jacques Metsu (c.1588-1629), who lived most of his days at Leiden, and Jacomijntje Garniers, his third wife, whom he married in 1625. Jacomijntje was the widow of a painter with three children of her own. Two months after Gabriël's birth, his father died.

According to Jacobus Houbraken, Metsu was taught by Gerard Dou, though his early works do not lend colour to this assertion. He was influenced by painters of Leiden such as Jan Steen, and later by Frans van Mieris the Elder.

Metsu was registered among the first members of the painters' corporation at Leiden; and the books of the guild also tell us that he remained a member in 1649. In Leiden, it was alleged that Metsu left a brothel at six in the morning and took a prostitute to the Academy. In 1650 he ceased to subscribe, and works bearing his name and the date of 1653 support the belief that he had moved. Metsu was trained in Utrecht by Jan Baptist Weenix and Nicolaus Knüpfer.^[1]

The alley on Prinsengracht

In Amsterdam Metsu lived in an alley on Prinsengracht, where he kept chickens. He got into an argument with a neighbor and moved to a house on the canal side, where a daily vegetable market was held. In 1658 he married Isabella de Wolff, whose father was a potter and mother a painter. The Speed Art Museum has a portrait of the couple. Pieter de Grebber, a religious painter from Haarlem, was her uncle.

At the onset of the 1660s Metsu turned for inspiration to the art of the "fijnschilders" from his native Leiden. Metsu was responding to the market of Dou's paintings,^[2] who sold his paintings all over for exorbitant prices. Metsu may have also influenced Pieter de Hoogh. Around the year 1661, Metsu won the patronage of the Amsterdam cloth merchant Jan J. Hinlopen and painted his family more than once in a fashionable surrounding.

The Poultry-Seller, 1662

At least thirteen of paintings show carpets and he probably used the same model.^[3] He included several fine examples of minutely depicted floral and cloudband carpets in his works and even a silk Oriental rug, as well as so-called "Lotto" rugs which he for some reason, in contrast to his meticulous rendering of the floral carpets, depicted only in a very sketchy fashion.^[4] After Metsu died, his widow left for Enkhuizen, to live with her mother.

Works[link]

According to Arnold Houbraken, he often painted young women who either sold goods at market (fruit, vegetables, fish, poultry, or meat) or were grocery-shopping themselves for these things.^[5] Houbraken ends his biography with the comment that he was "of impeccable reputation", but he may have meant this ironically. Often, the subject of a Metsu painting was based on a popular emblem from an emblem book. This can give the painting a double meaning, such as in The Poultry seller, 1662, showing an old man offering a rooster to a young girl in a symbolic pose that is based on a lewd engraving by Gillis van Breen (1595–1622), with the same scene.^[6] The accompanying verse (to bird = to make love) is

Two paintings of the Hinlopen family[link]

The Visit to the Nursery (1661), Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[7]
Gift by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1917

Lady reading a letter, (1665) (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin).

There is still some confusion about two paintings by Metsu — the Portrait of the family Hinlopen, now in the Gemäldegalerie, which for a few decades was referred to as The Family of burgomaster Gillis Valckenier, and Visit to the Nursery — in the Metropolitan Museum. There is some general resemblance.

The latter belonged to Jan J. Hinlopen. In 1662 Jan Vos published a poem about this painting, belonging to Jan J. Hinlopen.^[8] It might depict the Hinlopen family, but as the sitters have not been identified this painting it is more a genre work than a portrait.

Arnold Houbraken, in 1721, recalled the latter painting as the largest and finest work by Metsu he had ever seen.^[9] Franits calls it one of his most intriguing images. What makes this painting especially interesting is its provenance.^[10] The provenance of this painting is well-known, except for between the years 1666 and 1706.^[11] Most of Jan Hinlopen's collection passed to his daughters. In 1680, after the burial of his brother and guardian Jacob J. Hinlopen his paintings were divided in lots and given to his daughters ^[12] but none of the paintings or painters is mentioned.

The scene is set in an imaginary room of unrealistically large proportions. The father gestures deferentially while a maid dutifully fetches a chair for this esteemed visitor.^[13] The chimney resembles the one in the former Amsterdam townhall, also painted by Pieter de Hoogh.^[14] There is a seascape on the wall and Persian carpets on the table and the floor.^[15] The carpet on the table is divided into compartments, which are partly vermilion red and partly purple red, and shield-shaped. The dark blue color of the borders on the carpet are relatively unusual.^[16] The dog in the painting could be a Bolognese. Hung in the reception room of Hinlopen's home, the Visit to the Nursery thus alluded to his powerful role in local politics.

Remarkable is that both paintings seem to be related to Jan's daughter Sara Hinlopen, as he apparently commissioned 'The Visit to the Nursery' on the occasion of her birth, while she is also the focal point of the Portrait of the family Hinlopen.^{[citation needed]}

Notes[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gabriël Metsu

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Metsu, Gabriël.

Sources[link]

• Robinson, F.W. (1974) Gabriel Metsu (1629–1667) a Study of His Place in Dutch Genre Painting of the Golden Age.
• Stone-Ferrier, L. (1989) Gabriel Metsu's Vegetable Market at Amsterdam: seventeenth century Dutch market paintings and horticulture. In: Art Bulletin Jrg. 71 (1989), nr. 3 (September)

External links[link]

• 2010 Metsu exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland
• Gabriel Metsu in the Rijksmuseum
• Metsu and the Hinlopen Family at Museum Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis
• Webgallery of Art
• Works and literature

Sarah Patricia Connolly CBE (born 13 June 1963,^[1] County Durham) is an English mezzo-soprano.

Sarah Connolly was educated at Queen Margaret's School, York and then studied piano and singing at the Royal College of Music, of which she is now a Fellow. She then became a member of the BBC Singers for 5 years.^[2][3]

Sarah Connolly's interest in opera and a full-time career in classical music began after she left the BBC Singers. She began her opera career in the role of Annina (Der Rosenkavalier) in 1994.^[4] Her breakthrough role was as Xerxes in the 1998 English National Opera production of Handel's Serse (Xerxes), directed by Nicholas Hytner.In 2005 she sang Giulio Cesare by Handel for Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The DVD of the production, directed by David McVicar won a Gramophone Award.^[2][5] Her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden was in March 2009, as Dido in Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.^[6]

During the 2011 Gustav Mahler celebrations, Connolly performed all of his vocal works in the UK and abroad with The Philharmonia and Maazel, The LPO and Jurowski and Nezet Séguin, The LSO with Alsop, The OAE with Rattle and The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Chailly. Committed to promoting new music, her performances include Sir John Tavener's Tribute to Cavafy at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham and his film music to Children of Men. She also made the first commercial recording of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Twice Through the Heart with Marin Alsop and the London Philharmonic Orchestra having previously given the Belgian and Dutch premieres of the work with the Schoenberg Ensemble conducted by Oliver Knussen. She sang the role of Susie in the premiere production of Turnage's opera The Silver Tassie at English National Opera in 2000,^[7] which was subsequently released in a 2002 commercial recording.^[8]

Connolly's other commercial recordings include Schumann lieder with Eugene Asti for Chandos, "Songs of Love and Loss",^[9] Korngold lieder with Iain Burnside, the Duruflé Requiem for Signum and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment^[10] for which she raised the funds and selected the cast for the recording.^[2]

In September 2009, Sarah Connolly made her first appearance as a guest soloist at The Last Night of the Proms, singing Rule, Britannia! while wearing a replica Royal Navy uniform of Lord Nelson.^[11]

She lives with her husband, and their daughter Lily (born in 2003^[4]) in Gloucestershire, the Cotswolds.^[2][3]

Connolly was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.^[12]

Operatic roles[link]

Royal Opera House[link]

Henry Purcell

• "Dido and Aeneas (Dido)

Welsh National Opera[link]

Richard Strauss

• "Ariadne auf Naxos" (Der Komponist)

Opera North[link]

Gaetano Donizetti

• Maria Stuarda (Maria)

Vincenzo Bellini

• "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" (Romeo)

English National Opera[link]

Vincenzo Bellini

• I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Romeo)

Hector Berlioz

• Les Troyens (Dido)

Benjamin Britten

• The Rape of Lucretia (Lucretia)

George Frideric Handel

• Alcina (Ruggiero)
• Agrippina (Agrippina)
• Ariodante (Ariodante)
• Semele (Ino)
• Xerxes (Xerxes)

Claudio Monteverdi

• L'incoronazione di Poppea (Empress Ottavia)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• La clemenza di Tito (Sesto) – 2006 Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera

Henry Purcell

• Dido and Aeneas (Dido)

Richard Strauss

• Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian)

Mark-Anthony Turnage

• The Silver Tassie (Susie)

Scottish Opera[link]

• Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier (Octavian)

Glyndebourne Festival Opera[link]

• George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (Giulio Cesare)
• Johann Sebastian Bach: St. Matthew Passion
• Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde" (Brangäne)

La Scala[link]

Henry Purcell

• Dido and Aeneas (Dido)

La Monnaie[link]

Henry Purcell

• "Dido and Aeneas" (Dido)

De Nederlandse Opera[link]

Handel

• "Giulio Cesare" (Giulio Cesare)

Liceu[link]

Monteverdi

• "L'incoronazione di Poppea"(Nerone)

Festival d'Aix-en-Provence[link]

Mozart

• "La Clemenza di Tito" (Sesto)

Roles in the USA[link]

New York City Opera

• Vincenzo Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Romeo)
• George Frideric Handel: Ariodante (Ariodante)
• George Frideric Handel: Xerxes (Xerxes)

Metropolitan Opera

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: La clemenza di Tito (Annio)
• Richard Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos (The Composer)
• Richard Strauss: Capriccio (Clairon)

San Francisco Opera

• George Frideric Handel: Semele (Ino and Juno)

Recordings[link]

Recordings include:

• Henry Purcell "Dido and Aeneas" Chandos/OAE, 2009
• Frank Bridge Orchestral Songs Chandos/BBCNOW/Hickox, 2005
• Edward Elgar: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Simon Wright The Music Makers / Sea Pictures Naxos. GRAMMY NOMINATED 2006 (Solo Vocal category)
• Edward Elgar: The Very Best of Elgar 8.552133-34
• George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne, 2006) -- Glyndebourne Festival Opera – OAE / Christie/Opus Arte GRAMMOPHONE AWARD WINNER (Best Early Opera)
• George Frideric Handel: Heroes and Heroines – The Sixteen / Harry Christophers, Coro
• George Frideric Handel: Solomon (Solomon) Harmonia Mundi (2007 release)
• Gustav Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn – OCE / Herreweghe Harmonia Mundi, 2006 EDISON AWARD WINNER (Solo Vocal category)
• Felix Mendelssohn: Songs and Duets Vol. 3 Hyperion, 2004
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Mass in C Minor and Haydn – Scena di Bernice – Gabrieli Consort / McCreesh DG, 2006
• Arnold Schoenberg: BBC Voices - Blood Red Carnations: Songs by Arnold Schoenberg Black Box, 2002
• John Tavener: Children of Men
• The Exquisite Hour – Recital Disc: Songs by Brahms, Britten, Hahn, Haydn (Eugene Asti) Signum Classics, 2006^[13]
• Robert Schumann: Songs of Love and Loss (Eugene Asti) - Chandos, 2008
• Erich Korngold: Sonett für Wien: Songs of Erich Korngold Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano), William Dazeley (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano) Signum Classics SIGCD160
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les fêtes d'Hébé (Les Arts Florissants & William Christie)- Erato, 1997

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sarah Connolly's - Official Website
• Sarah Connolly (Naxos biography)
• Sarah Connolly mezzo soprano
• Sarah Connolly (Mezzo-soprano)
• Sarah Connolly
• Sarah Connolly
• Sarah Connolly (IMDb)
• BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour - Sarah Connolly (link to radio interview RAM file)
• Mezzo of the Moment - Interview October 2008
• Music Web International article on ENO production of La Clemenza di Tito, 2005
• Music Web International article on Prom 52, 2005, Julius Caesar