The Goldfinch

Carel Fabritius, 1654

The Goldfinch, is a well-known Dutch oil on canvas, illustrates art's transcendent force and beauty, as well as its vulnerability. The downy body of the domestic pet is depicted by Fabritius with a minimum of fast strokes. Such deft use of paint to imply form and texture could have been influenced by Rembrandt, with whom he studied. The small bird confined to his feed box is a masterwork of trompe l'oeil illusionism, whatever the panel's original purpose — either a component of a birdcage or a cover for an encased picture — The artist's clean lighting and ordered tranquillity influenced Vermeer, who, like Fabritius, was a resident of Delft.