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 Amsterdam. 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 The Sentry (1654).
Biography
Carel Pietersz. Fabritius was born in February 1622 in
Middenbeemster, a village in the ten-year-old
Beemster polder in the
Dutch Republic, 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 Fabritius and Johannes, who also became painters.
[ Barent Fabritius, Netherlands Institute for Art History. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.][ Johannes Fabritius, Netherlands Institute for Art History. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.]
Initially he worked as a carpenter (Latin: fabritius). In 1641 he married Aeltge Velthuys, who died in childbirth in 1643.
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.[ Karel Fabricius biography in De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the Digital library for Dutch literature]
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
The Renaissance focus on
iconography, 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 Johannes Vermeer and de Hooch, both also based in Delft; it is likely that Fabritius was a strong influence on them.
List of works
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ca. 1640 The Beheading of John the Baptist, oil on canvas, 149 x 121 cm, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
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1643 The Raising of Lazarus, oil on canvas, National Museum, Warsaw
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1643 Hera Hiding During the Battle Between the Gods and the Giants, oil on canvas, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
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1643/45 Hagar and the Angel, oil on canvas, 157.5 x 136 cm, The Leiden Collection New York
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c. 1644 Portrait of a Seated Woman with a Handkerchief, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
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c. 1645 Self-portrait, oil on panel, 65 x 49 cm, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
[ Self-portrait, Carel Fabritius, c. 1645 , Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.]
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1645–47 Mercury and Aglauros oil on canvas, 72.4 x 91.1 cm, Museum of Fine Arts Boston
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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
[ A Girl with a Broom, National Gallery of Art. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.]
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1649 Portrait of Abraham de Potter, oil on canvas, 68.5 x 57 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
[ Portrait of Abraham de Potter, Amsterdam Silk Merchant, Carel Fabritius, 1649, Rijksmuseum. Retrieved on 21 August 2014.]
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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 London
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1654 The Goldfinch, oil on panel, Mauritshuis The Hague
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1654 The Sentry, oil on canvas, 68 x 58 cm, Staatliches Museum Schwerin Schwerin
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1654 Young Man in a Fur Cap, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 61.5 cm, National Gallery London (probably a self-portrait)
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Notes
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