How are you?
On every Thursday, I am introducing
the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title
“Interesting Art Stories”.
The 15th story for this week is
"The Goldfinch" by the Dutch Golden Age artist Carel Fabritius.
“The Goldfinch” is a
painting of life-size chained goldfinch. The goldfinch, the subject of this
painting, is a bird that is widespread and eats seeds in Europe, North Africa,
and western and central Asia and is known to bring health and luck. A popular pet at the time, the bird
could be taught simple tricks, such as lifting a thimble-sized bucket of water.
A goldfinch
It is often seen in paintings in a
symbolic sense as well as a colorful appearance. Including Leonardo da Vinci’s
“Madonna Litta (1490–1491)”, Raphael's “Madonna of the Goldfinch (1506)” and
Piero della Francesca's “Nativity (1470–1475)”, the bird appears in many
Renaissance religious paintings.
Madonna Litta, Leonardo da Vinci (mid 1490s)
Madonna of the Goldfinch, Raphael (1505–1506)
The Nativity, Piero della Francesca (1470–1475)
Carel Fabritius, who created this
painting, was born in 1622 in Middenbeemster, The Netherlands. Although he was
not formally trained in art, he became a student of Rembrandt because of his
outstanding artistic talent. Fabritius, who moved to Amsterdam in 1641, married
his first wife the same year. However, after his wife's death in 1643, he
returned to Middenbeemster and lived until the early 1650s, then to Delft where
he joined the Guild of Saint Luke in 1652.
Self-portrait, Fabritius (c. 1645)
Fabritius' works were well regarded
by his contemporaries, and his style influenced other famous Dutch painters of
the time, including Pieter de Hooch, Emanuel de Witte and Johannes Vermeer. In
particular, it has been suggested that Vermeer was Fabritius' student, although
it is not sure.
Fabritius died in the explosion in
the city of Delft on October 12, 1654, killing at least 100 people and
destroying a quarter of the city, including his studio and many of his
paintings. “The Goldfinch” is one of the only three paintings he painted in
1654, the year he died, and one of his dozen paintings that were survived from
the Delft gunpowder explosion.
A View of Delft after the Explosion of 1654, Egbert van der Poel (c. 1654)
The painting, which had been lost
for more than two centuries after Fabritius' death and re-discovered in
Brussels, is now owned by the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands.
This painting also plays a central
role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt and a
2019 film of the novel’s adaptation.
Book cover of The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
Film poster, The Goldfinch (2019)
Thank you.
