The Old Drinker

An old man drinks in this 1650 painting at the Rijksmuseum, a character study of the type that Dutch painters produced in quantity. Elderly drinkers combined genre observation with moral commentary on excess and the passage of time. The old man"s weathered face and the act of drinking create a meditation on sensual pleasure in old age that can be read as either sympathetic or cautionary. Metsu was among the most gifted painters of the Dutch Golden Age's second generation, combining Rembrandt's tonal depth with Vermeer's luminosity in genre scenes of exceptional refinement.

The old man"s face is rendered with careful characterization, the wrinkles, ruddy nose, and bleary eyes of an habitual drinker conveyed with naturalistic precision. The drinking vessel provides a still-life element. The palette is warm and dark, typical of tavern interior scenes, with the face receiving the most careful attention and the background kept deliberately simple.