Shop art print and framed art The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius

The Goldfinch (Dutch: Het puttertje) was painted by Carel Fabritius in 1654. It is 33.5 cm high and 22.8 cm wide. It is kept in the Mauritshuis in The Hague in the Netherlands. The Goldfinch was painted in 1654, a few months before Fabritius died in the explosion at the Delft powder magazine. It is assumed that the painting was intended as a house plaque for a family in The Hague whose name, De Putter, means Goldfinch in Dutch. Placed in front of a plaster wall, the illusion would have been remarkable. The painting belonged to the knight Joseph-Guillaume-Jean Camberlyn and then to his heirs in Brussels. In 1865, it passed to Étienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré in Paris. He sold it on 5 December 1892 at Hôtel Drouot (lot 10). The Goldfinch was eventually bought back at the sale of the Collection E. Martinet Collection at Drouot (lot 16) on 27 February 1896, by Abraham Bredius on behalf of the Mauritshuis, of which he was curator between 1889 and 1909. It was restored in the early 2000s by Jørgen Wadum, chief curator at the Mauritshuis between 1991 and 2005. This small oil painting depicts a goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) sitting on the perch of its feeder. The bird is recognisable by the plumage of its black wings striped with a yellow band. A fine chain attached to the bird's leg ties it to its perch and prevents it from flying away. The bird is painted life-size using the trompe-l'œil technique, and the semi-circular lower part of the perch adds to the illusion of depth. [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the naturalism style.

 

Find the full description of The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius on Wikipedia.