Painting "Goldfinch", Fabricius: three hundred and sixty years later

Karel Peters Fabricius (1622-1654) is a Dutch painter, a pupil of the great Rembrandt. In the last year of his short life, he wrote three works: a picture of "Goldfinch", "Sentry", "A Young Man in a Fur Hat." In general, only about ten of his works were preserved.

Brief biography of the artist

Karel Fabricius was born in February 1622 and was baptized on February 27 in Midden Bemster near the Hague. His father was a school teacher and an artist. He had two younger brothers - Barent and Johannes, who later became artists.

In the first specialty, he was a carpenter. Hence his nickname - Fabricius. This work was hardly accidental. She allowed to meet with artists, because at that time they wrote not only on the canvases, but also on the boards. They were dried after processing for at least fifty years. For example, the picture of "Goldfinch" (Fabricius) can not be called a canvas, since it is written on a blackboard.

In the 40s Karel became the best, most gifted pupil of Rembrandt van Rijn. He studies in the workshop of the great painter together with his brother Barent in Amsterdam. In 1643, he suddenly lost his family (his wife and two children). But after seven years he comes to Delft, where he meets a young widow, and, having married, in the early 50's Karel forever moved to this city.

In Delft

He joins the guild of the painters of St. Luke in 1652 and develops his own artistic style, which is very different from that of his teacher. If his teacher wrote light on the dark, then Fabricius resorts to the opposite method. The picture of the "Goldfinch" also represents the dark on the light. Fabricius is experimenting a lot with perspective and lighting. "Goldfinch" and "Self-portrait", written in the last year of life, is the best confirmation of this. Seriously, but benevolently peers a young thirty-year-old artist in the viewer. Concentration and mind shine in his eyes. Color is modest and stingy. Self-portrait (National Gallery, London) is made in brownish-gray tones. Karel did not write a ceremonial portrait, but an intimate portrait that shows him in everyday life. Completely differently done the picture of "Goldfinch". Fabricius in many works uses natural sunlight, which gives his works softness and lyrics.

The tragic death

On October 12, in 1654, a tragedy occurred in Delft - a powder storehouse exploded. This explosion destroyed at least a quarter of the city. At this time, Karel Fabricius worked with his disciple Matthias and the deacon in the church. They all died together. All the works of the successful and beginning to gain fame of the artist died, with the exception of some. So, at an early age, the creator of the Delft school of painting suddenly and unexpectedly finished his life. "Goldfinch" - one of the last works of the master, written in the year of his death. Artlessness is one of the virtues with which the picture of "Goldfinch" is executed. Fabricius, of course, influenced the famous Vermeer of Delft, who carefully studied his manner of writing. "Goldfinch" is in the Royal Gallery of The Hague Mauritshanes.

Painter Fabricius: "Goldfinch" painting

This is a small masterpiece written in oil on wood. It is signed, like all the works, C. FABRITIVS 1654. On a light golden-beige background, a small scheel is sitting on the roost. Painting "Goldfinch" Karel Fabricius is written against a background full of air and sunlight. Very accurately, a bluish roost and two rings are almost photographed, on one of which a bird is sitting. The work was done in one breath, with large strokes. Special skill was demonstrated by Fabricius, drawing the head of the slit and its luminous transparent wings.

Fabricius, "Goldfinch": the history of the painting

Initially the "Goldfinch" belonged to the Chevalier Joseph-Guillaume-Jean Camberlin in Brussels. In 1865 the picture was sold. In 1892, the owner parted with her, and only in 1896 she received a permanent place in the collection of the Royal Gallery of The Hague.

The Book of Donna Tartt

"Goldfinch" is the so-called volumetric, over eight hundred pages, the third work of an American writer. She wrote it for ten years. The whole story is based on the adventures of the protagonist Theo, in whose hands the picture of the artist Fabricius "Goldfinch" hit. The teenager gets to the museum, where his attention is attracted by a picture with a picture of a chipper on it. By the way, her reproduction is placed on the cover of the book. And suddenly, in the museum there is an explosion. When Theo came to, he did not understand anything at first. A dying elderly gentleman asks Theo to take with him a picture of the rubble and take it to an incomprehensible address. His mother died in a museum, and the lonely Theo bitterly searches for who should be given the picture. She's hidden in his house. After long adventures, Theodore will be able to return the work to its destination. Donna Tartt in 2014 received a Pulitzer Prize for this novel. He was translated into many languages, including Russian. It became an event, and Donna Tartt by the Times magazine was included among the hundred most influential people in the world. It is assumed that there will be a screen version of this novel.

That's how modernity three hundred and sixty years later responded to the masterpiece of Fabricius.