Carel Fabritius

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Self-portrait Carel Fabritius

Carel Pietersz. Fabritius (baptized February 27, 1622 in Midden-Beemster , † October 12, 1654 in Delft ) was a Dutch painter.

Life

Carel Fabritius was the eldest son of Pieter Carelsz. called Fabritius and Barbertje Barentsdr. van der Maes. The following entry can be found in the baptismal register of the Reformed Church of Midden-Beemster: “Anno 1622, February 27th, Pieter Carelsz. Son Carel. Godfather Jan Carelsz. ”. Ten more siblings were born after him, of whom the brothers Barent and Johannes also decided to pursue a career as a painter. Little is known about his youth. It was long suspected that Carel learned and practiced the profession of carpenter. The reason for this was that in the files in which he was confirmed as a member of the Reformed Church he was “Carel Pietersen Timmermann. At the manor “is called. But since no job title can be found anywhere else in the register, modern research assumes that he was called Timmermann (= carpenter). Possibly this nickname goes back to his father, who was a painter, but was probably a carpenter in his youth. So far nothing can be proven about training and occupation in these years. It is very likely, however, that Carel came into contact with painting at an early age through his father.

On September 1, 1641, Carel became engaged to Aeltje Herrmensdr. van Hasselt announced. He is the first time under the name Carel Pietersz. Fabritius led. Whether the name Fabritius goes back to the name “Faber” (Latin for craftsman), as previously assumed, is doubted today. Shortly after the wedding, on September 22, 1641, the young couple moved to Amsterdam .

In the same year he most likely applied to Rembrandt's studio . However, there are no documents that prove that Carel worked there. Only in a note by the painter and poet Samuel van Hoogstraten from 1678 does he call him “my classmate”. This assumption is confirmed by some early works that are stylistically close to the best works from the Rembrandt studio of that time. It can even be assumed that Carel only moved to Amsterdam because Rembrandt was staying there and he already had a good reputation as a teacher. However, since Carel was already too old for an apprenticeship at the age of 19, he probably worked there as a studio employee. However, this would require that he had already achieved a certain mastery.

The Amsterdam years were marked by severe blows of fate for the young artist. In 1642 one of his children died shortly after birth. A year later, his wife also died giving birth to their third child, Catrin, who must have died soon too, because in the same year he returned to Midden-Beemster with his remaining daughter Aeltje (probably a twin sister of the child who died in 1642) back. This child soon died too. Due to the close proximity to Amsterdam, it cannot be ruled out that Carel was also in contact with Rembrandt in the following years. However, this has not been proven. After the death of his apparently wealthy wife Aeltje, Carel suffered from serious financial worries in the following years. He had some debts that he could not pay off until his death. This also seems to have been a consequence of missing orders.

In September 1650 he married for the second time. His wife, Agatha van Pruyssen, resident in Amsterdam, came from Delft . Since a wedding invitation is available from August 22, 1650, it can be assumed that his wife wanted to settle in Delft. Strangely enough, it was only two years later, on October 29, 1652, that he was entered as a painter in the master book of the Delft Guild of St. Luke . This is all the more astonishing as the statutes stipulated that he was only allowed to train apprentices and sell pictures as a registered member. It is therefore unclear how he earned his money during this time. Only a few pictures have survived from the Delft period. But it is precisely these late works that make his fame and in which he separated from Rembrandt's art and embarked on new, trend-setting paths. The thesis that Jan Vermeer , who is around ten years younger than him, was a student of Carel can no longer be supported today.

At the height of his creativity, the 32-year-old Carel died when he was killed on October 12, 1654 in the explosion of the tower "t'Secreet van Hollandt" , the Delft powder mill. He had just been portraying the sexton of the Oude Kerk in Delft. In the process, numerous works by the master that were still in the studio were certainly lost.

style

Carel Fabritius can be regarded as the most important painter who emerged from Rembrandt's circle. With his early works he already achieved a mastery that was hardly inferior to that of his role model. It is not for nothing that many of these early works were considered to be Rembrandt's own handwriting for a long time. In the course of time, however, in contrast to most of the other painters in the Rembrandt Circle, Carel managed to break away from this model. He dealt intensively with questions of color and perspective. He broke away from the prevailing darkness of the Rembrandt School and relied on lighter and friendlier colors that predominated in the backgrounds of his pictures. The last works show an extraordinary creativity and hardly show any resemblance to the earlier works. It is not known why Carel deviated from the style of his role model so quickly, but he may have received a variety of inspirations from the fact that Delft at the time was a great attraction for talented painters such as Gerard Terborch , Jan Steen and Paulus Potter , who influenced one another and had a role model function for existing and subsequent generations of painters.

Works

The goldfinch
The gate guard (before restoration)

The work that Carel Fabritius left behind is not very large. Many of the works ascribed to him are unsigned and have only been claimed for him because of the style criticism. The following list contains all those works that are now considered to be secured or most likely images made by Carel:

The following list includes other works that are associated with Carel Fabritius, but whose authorship is doubtful or has not yet become generally accepted:

  • Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum
    • The beheading of John the Baptist (completely different from the style)
  • Bergamo, Accademia Carrara
    • Nobleman on horseback , around 1650
  • The Hague, Mauritshuis
    • Tronie of an old man (as long as there is no undoubted tronie, the question of authorship must remain open)
  • Groningen, Groninger Museum
    • Man with helmet (old attribution is no longer tenable due to new discoveries)
  • Hamburg, Gallery Hans (1998)
    • Elisa and the Sunamitin (attribution by W. Sumowski, see Pantheon LIV 1996)
  • Japan, private collection
    • Tronie of an old man (as long as there is no undoubted tronie, the question of authorship must remain open)
  • Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum - Fondation Corboud
    • Scholar at the table , 1644 ( attributed to Carel Fabritius at the exhibition Rembrandt - Genius in Search as a possible counterpart to the portrait of a woman in an armchair from 1644 in Toronto)
  • Leipzig, Museum of Fine Arts
    • Portrait of Rembrandt
  • Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery
    • Tronie of an old man (as long as there is no undoubted tronie, the question of authorship must remain open)
  • Moscow, Pushkin Museum
    • The beheading of John the Baptist
  • Paris, Musee National du Louvre
    • Tronie of an old man (as long as there is no undoubted tronie, the question of authorship must remain open)
  • Pasadena, Norten Simon Museum
    • Portrait of Rembrandt (authorship is possible)
  • Vaduz, collections of the Princes of Liechtenstein
    • Diana (poor composition and anatomy, authorship unlikely)
  • Washington, National Gallery of Art
    • Girl leaning on broom (authorship is possible)

The last list shows the drawings that have been claimed as possible works by Carel Fabritius. However, since no signed work or preliminary study for a recognized painting has yet been found, these are currently only hypothetical:

  • Amsterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet
    • Five drawings
  • Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
    • Standing Orientals , around 1643–1645 (new attribution on the occasion of the exhibition: Rembrandt. The Draftsman 2006 in Berlin)
  • Budapest, Szépművészeti Múzeum
    • Standing Orientals , around 1643–1645 (new attribution mentioned in the catalog on the occasion of the exhibition: Rembrandt. The Draftsman 2006 in Berlin)
  • New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
    • The meeting of Jacob and Rachel at the well
  • Winterthur, Oskar Reinhart Collection
    • The twelve year old Christ in the temple

Receptions

The center of their 2013 published novel The Goldfinch (dt .: The Goldfinch ), the American writer Donna Tartt Fabritius's painting The Goldfinch .

In 2007 the Südwestrundfunk (SWR) Baden-Baden produced the detective radio play Death in Pictures - The Fabritius Case by Bernd Schmidt . The focus of this radio play is the theft of the Fabritius work Die Torwache .

In 2016 an asteroid was named after Carel Fabritius: (16690) Fabritius .

literature

  • Christopher Brown: Carel Fabritius. Complete edition with a catalog raisonnée . Phaidon, Oxford 1981, ISBN 0-7148-2032-6 (English).
  • Sigi Kube: Carel Fabritius - Delft Thunder Clap. In: Sigi Kube: Every finish is difficult. Unusual deaths in history. Bastei Lübbe, Cologne 2016, ISBN 978-3-404-60866-9 , pp. 44–45.
  • KE Schuurmann: Carel Fabritius. Becht, Amsterdam 1947 (Dutch).
  • Gero Seelig (Ed.): Carel Fabritius (1622–1654). The work. (= Catalog of the exhibition of the same name, The Hague and others 2004/2005). Waanders, Zwolle 2004, ISBN 90-400-9633-3 .
  • Erika Tietze-Conrat : The Delft School of Painting. Carel Fabritius, Pieter de Hooch, Jan Vermeer. Seemann, Leipzig 1922.

Web links

Commons : Carel Fabritius  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ The patronymic (here “Pieterszoon”) is usually written in the abbreviated form, with the ending “z.” Standing for “zoon” (son), “dr.” For “wicked” (daughter).
  2. ↑ The family names were still emerging during this time and were not fixed.
personal data
SURNAME Fabritius, Carel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fabritius, Carel Pietersz (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch painter and student of Rembrandt
DATE OF BIRTH baptized February 27, 1622
PLACE OF BIRTH Midden Beemster
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1654
Place of death Delft