The Goldfinch (painting)
Painting by Dutch Golden Age artist Carel Fabritius of a life-size chained goldfinch. Signed and dated 1654, it is now in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands. The work is a trompe-l’œil oil on panel measuring 33. 5 by 22. 8 centimetres.
About The Goldfinch (painting) in brief
The Goldfinch is a painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Carel Fabritius of a life-size chained goldfinch. Signed and dated 1654, it is now in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands. The work is a trompe-l’œil oil on panel measuring 33. 5 by 22. 8 centimetres that was once part of a larger structure, perhaps a window jamb or a protective cover. It is possible that the painting was in its creator’s workshop in Delft at the time of the gunpowder explosion that killed him and destroyed much of the city. A common and colourful bird with a pleasant song, the goldfinches was a popular pet, and could be taught simple tricks including lifting a thimble-sized bucket of water. It was reputedly a bringer of good health, and was used in Italian Renaissance painting as a symbol of Christian redemption and the Passion of Jesus. It plays a central role in the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Goldfinches by Donna Tartt and its film adaptation. The painting is the title of the Dutch nickname puttertje, which is a diminutive name for \”draw-water-water\”, an old name for a miniature bucket of gold water. The goldf Finch is a widespread and common seed-eating bird in Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia. It frequently appears in paintings, not just for its colourful appearance, but also for its symbolic meanings for fertility, and its presence in the Garden of Earthly Delights next to a naked naked couple in a triptych by Hierchus Delchus, the Dutch master of the Delchs Garden of Delights, in the 17th century.
The bird is perched on a feeder with a lid, enclosed by two wooden half-rings fixed to the wall, to which its leg is attached by a fine chain. It has been domesticated for at least 2,000 years, and in 17th century, it became fashionable to train a miniature train to draw water from a bowl with a miniature miniature bucket on a chain. During conservation, it was realised that the surface of the painting had numerous small dents that must have been formed when the paint was still not fully dried, since there was no cracking. The restoration removed the old yellow varnish and showed the original tones, described by the art critic Théophile Thoré-Bürger in 1859 as mur blême and lumineuse couleur. The frame was subsequently removed leaving only a residual line of a greenish copper compound, and added the lower perch. The frame has four nail holes and six other holes near the top, suggesting two different methods of suspension of the panel at various times. The art historian Linda Stone-Ferrier has suggested that the panel may have been either attached to the inner jamb of a window or have been a hinged protective cover for another wall-mounted painting.
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