The Poultry Dealer

The Poultry Dealer (1657) shows Metsu's interest in the commercial transactions of Amsterdam street life — the outdoor stall where a vendor sells live or freshly killed poultry. This subject belonged to a tradition of market and vendor scenes that had roots in Flemish genre painting but had been thoroughly naturalized into Dutch Golden Age imagery by Metsu's generation. The Hessen Kassel Heritage collection holds this alongside his Alms painting, representing two ends of the social spectrum — the commercial market transaction and the charitable gift — within the same collection. Poultry dealers, fish sellers, and market women appeared frequently in Dutch painting as images of the productive commercial energy that was at the heart of the Dutch self-image in the Golden Age.

Oil paint with attention to the textures of feathers, plucked skin, and the vendor's own clothing. The outdoor commercial setting requires a different handling of light from Metsu's domestic interiors — more diffuse, cooler, and less dramatically directional.