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Carel Pietersz. Fabritius (; bapt. 27 February 1622 – 12 October 1654) was a Dutch painter. He was a pupil of Rembrandt and worked in his studio in
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. Fabritius, who was a member of the Delft School, developed his own artistic style and experimented with perspective and lighting. Among his works are '' A View of Delft'' (1652; National Gallery, London), '' The Goldfinch'' (1654), and ''
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'' (1654).


Biography

Carel Pietersz. Fabritius was born in February 1622 in Middenbeemster, a village in the ten-year-old Beemster
polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains ...
in the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...
, and was baptized on 27 February of that year.Carel Fabritius
Netherlands Institute for Art History. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
He was the son of Pieter Carelsz., a painter and schoolteacher, and he had two younger brothers, Barent and
Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' ...
, who also became painters. Initially he worked as a carpenter (Latin: ''fabritius''). In the early 1640s he studied at Rembrandt's studio in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, along with his brother Barent. In the early 1650s he moved to
Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolita ...
, and joined the Delft painters' guild in 1652. Fabritius died young, caught in the explosion of the Delft gunpowder magazine on 12 October 1654, which destroyed a quarter of the city, along with his studio and many of his paintings. Only about a dozen paintings have survived. According to Houbraken, his student Mattias Spoors and the church deacon Simon Decker died with him, since they were working on a painting together at the time.Karel Fabricius biography
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the
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In a poem written by Arnold Bon to his memory, he is called Karel Faber.


Painting

Of all Rembrandt's pupils, Fabritius was the only one to develop his own artistic style. A typical Rembrandt portrait would have a plain dark background with the subject defined by spotlighting. In contrast, Fabritius' portraits feature delicately lit subjects against light-coloured, textured backgrounds. Moving away from the
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focus on
iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
, Fabritius became interested in the technical aspects of painting. He used cool colour harmonies to create shape in a luminous style of painting. Fabritius was also interested in complex spatial effects, as can be seen in the exaggerated perspective of '' A View of Delft, with a Musical Instrument Seller's Stall'' (1652). He also showed excellent control of a heavily loaded brush, as in '' The Goldfinch'' (1654). All these qualities appear in the work of
Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
and de Hooch, both also based in Delft; it is likely that Fabritius was a strong influence on them. File:Carel Fabritius 005.jpg, ''
Portrait of Abraham de Potter ''Portrait of Abraham de Potter, Amsterdam Silk Merchant'' ( nl, Portret van Abraham de Potter, zijdelakenkoopman in Amsterdam) is a 1649 portrait painting of silk merchant Abraham de Potter by Carel Fabritius. The oil painting on canvas is 68.5 ...
'' (1649) File:FabritiusViewOfDelft.jpg, '' A View of Delft'' (1652) exploring an exaggerated, panoramic perspective File:Fabritius-vink.jpg, '' The Goldfinch'' (1654), showing Fabritius' use of cool colour harmonies, delicate lighting effects, and a light background File:Carel Fabritius - De poort bewaker (1654).jpg, ''
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'' (1654) File:Carel Fabritius - A Young Man in a Fur Cap and a Cuirass (probably a Self Portrait) - National Gallery, London - 1654 (2).jpg, ''
Young Man in a Fur Cap ''A Young Man in a Fur Cap and a Cuirass (probably a Self Portrait)'' is a 1654 portrait painting by Carel Fabritius. It is an oil painting on canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, ...
'' (1654), probably a self-portrait


List of works

* ca. 1640 ''The Beheading of John the Baptist'', oil on canvas, 149 x 121 cm, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam * 1643 ''The Raising of Lazarus'', oil on canvas, National Museum,
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* 1643 ''The Raising of Lazarus'', oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum,
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* 1643/45 ''Hagar and the Angel'', oil on canvas, 157.5 x 136 cm,
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New York * c. 1644 '' Portrait of a Seated Woman with a Handkerchief'', Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto * c. 1645 ''Self-portrait'', oil on panel, 65 x 49 cm,
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, Rotterdam * 1645–47 '' Mercury and Aglauros'' oil on canvas, 72.4 x 91.1 cm, Museum of Fine Arts Boston * 1646–1651 ''A Girl with a Broom'', oil on canvas, 107.3 x 91.4 cm, signed as Rembrandt, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C * 1649 ''
Portrait of Abraham de Potter ''Portrait of Abraham de Potter, Amsterdam Silk Merchant'' ( nl, Portret van Abraham de Potter, zijdelakenkoopman in Amsterdam) is a 1649 portrait painting of silk merchant Abraham de Potter by Carel Fabritius. The oil painting on canvas is 68.5 ...
'', oil on canvas, 68.5 x 57 cm, Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamPortrait of Abraham de Potter, Amsterdam Silk Merchant, Carel Fabritius, 1649
Rijksmuseum. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.
* 1652 '' A View of Delft, with a Musical Instrument Seller's Stall'', oil on canvas on panel, 15.4 x 31.6 cm,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
London * 1654 '' The Goldfinch'', oil on panel, Mauritshuis The Hague * 1654 ''
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'', oil on canvas, 68 x 58 cm,
Staatliches Museum Schwerin The Staatliches Museum Schwerin (State Museum Schwerin) is an art gallery and museum in Schwerin in Germany. It was established by Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1882 its historicist Haupthaus as the ''Staatsgalerie' ...
Schwerin * 1654 ''
Young Man in a Fur Cap ''A Young Man in a Fur Cap and a Cuirass (probably a Self Portrait)'' is a 1654 portrait painting by Carel Fabritius. It is an oil painting on canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, ...
'', oil on canvas, 70.5 x 61.5 cm,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
London (probably a self-portrait)


Notes


References

*''Carel Fabritius 1622–1654. Het complete oeuvre'' Frederik J. Duparc, Ariane van Suchtelen, Gero Seelig. *''The Oxford Dictionary of Art'' *Biography a
Residenzgalerie
Salzburg

interest in unusual perspectives.


External links


Works and literature on Carel FabritiusVermeer and The Delft School
a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which includes material on Carel Fabritius {{DEFAULTSORT:Fabritius, Carel 1622 births 1654 deaths Dutch Golden Age painters Dutch Calvinist and Reformed Christians Dutch male painters Painters from Delft People from Beemster Pupils of Rembrandt Deaths from explosion