Karel Peters Fabricius (1622–1654) - Dutch painter, student of the great Rembrandt. In the last year of his short life, he wrote three works: the picture "Goldfinch", "Sentinel", "Young man in a fur hat." In total, only about ten of his works have been 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 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 in those days they wrote not only on canvases, but also on boards. They were dried after treatment for at least fifty years. For example, the picture "Goldfinch" (Fabricius) cannot be called a canvas, since it is written on a blackboard.
In the 40s, Karel became the best, most gifted student of Rembrandt van Rijn. He is studying in the studio of the great painter with his brother Barent in Amsterdam. In 1643, he suddenly lost his family (wife and two children). But after seven years, he arrives in Delft, where he meets a young widow, and, having married, in the beginning of the 50s Karel will permanently move to this city.
In Delft
He joins the guild of painters of St. Luke in 1652 and develops his own artistic style, which is very different from the style of his teacher. If his teacher wrote light on dark, then Fabricius resorts to the opposite method. Dark on light is also represented to us by the picture “Goldfinch”. 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, a young thirty-year-old artist peers at the viewer. Focus and mind glow in his eyes. The color is modest and stingy. Self-portrait (National Gallery, London) is made in brownish-grayish tones. Karel did not write a ceremonial portrait, but an intimate one, showing it in everyday life. The picture "Goldfinch" is completely different. In many works, Fabricius uses natural sunlight, which gives his work softness and lyrics.
Tragic demise
On October 12, 1654, a tragedy occurred in Delft - a powder warehouse exploded. This explosion destroyed at least a quarter of the city. At this time, Karel Fabricius worked with his student Matthias and deacon in the church. They died all together. All the works of a successful artist who began to gain fame died, with the exception of some. So, at an early age, the creator of the Delft school of painting suddenly and unexpectedly ended his life. "Goldfinch" - one of the last works of the master, written in the year of his death. Artlessness is one of the advantages with which the picture "Goldfinch" is executed. Fabricius undoubtedly influenced the famous Vermeer from Delft, who carefully studied his manner of writing. "Goldfinch" is in the Royal Hague Gallery of Mauritshaines.
Artist Fabricius: painting "Goldfinch"
This is a small masterpiece painted in oil on wood. It is signed, like all works, C. FABRITIVS 1654. On a light golden-beige background, a small puppy sits on a perch.
The picture "Goldfinch" by Karel Fabricius is painted on a background full of air and sunlight. Very precisely, a bluish roost and two rings, on one of which a bird sits, are written almost photographically. The work was done in one breath, with large strokes. Fabrizius demonstrated special skill by drawing the carduelis head and its luminous transparent wings.
Fabricius, "Goldfinch": the history of the picture
The Goldfinch originally belonged to the Chevalier Joseph-Guillaume-Jean Cumberlin in Brussels. In 1865, the painting was sold. In 1892, the owner parted with her, and only in 1896 she received a permanent place in the collection of the Royal Hague Gallery.
Donna Tartt Book
"Goldfinch" - the so-called voluminous, over eight hundred pages, the third work of an American writer. She wrote it for ten years. The whole plot rests on the adventures of the protagonist Theo, who fell into the hands of the painting “The Goldfinch” by the artist Fabricius. A teenager enters a museum, where his attention is attracted by a picture with an apex depicted on it. By the way, her reproduction is placed on the cover of the book.
And then, unexpectedly, an explosion occurs in the museum. When Theo woke up, at first he did not understand anything. An elderly gentleman dying from wounds asks Theo to take a picture with a goldfinch with him and take it to an incomprehensible address. His mother died in the museum, and the lonely Theo, with bitterness in his soul, is looking for the one to whom the painting should be given. She is hidden in his house. After a long adventure, Theodore will be able to return the work to its intended purpose.
Donna Tartt in 2014 received the 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 film adaptation of this novel.
This is how modernity, after three hundred and sixty years, responded to Fabrice's masterpiece.