The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius

  • You can really take home The Goldfinch - This little bird has captured the hearts of many across the world with the recent film adaptation of the novel The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. Arius is proud to offer this museum-endorsed replication in partnership with The Mauritshuis. Using the latest technology and old-fashioned artistry, we present you a movie quality replication of The Goldfinch, which is true to size and captures every brushstroke of the original, allowing you to experience the artwork as Carel Fabritius intended.

    • The Goldfinch movie quality replication
    • Certified Special Museum Edition 
    • Printed on premium aluminum panels using the highest quality archival inks
    • Elevated print size: 32.5 x 21.6 cm (12.8" x 8.5”)
  • The museum choice frame was selected by Mauritshuis curators to match the frame on the original painting of The Goldfinch, providing you a sense of living with the real painting.
    • 14 Day Money Back Guarantee
    • Limited Lifetime Warranty
    • Arius is a Mauritshuis licensed printing partner for North America.








THE STORY BEHIND THE GOLDFINCH

Fabritius’ Goldfinch is undoubtedly the most looked at little bird in the history of art. Thousands of museum visitors adore this masterpiece every year.

Remarked as Rembrandt’s most talented student, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to this beautiful little bird.

In 1654, Fabritius painted a goldfinch with loose, visible brushstrokes. A charming little bird on a chain, in front of a whitewashed buy rather battered wall. Not much, but enough to captivate and stir up curiosity.

Common in the 17th Century, many wonder if Fabritius had his own pet Goldfinch as the painting is so enticingly real. Enough so to momentarily trick a visitor into thinking this little bird was a living pet.

Experiments with such ‘trompe I’oeil’ – deceiver of the eye - effects and perspective were all the rage in Fabritius’ day. The perfect illusion was the ultimate goal for an artist. When looking up close we can see how perspective and innovative techniques achieved this sense of Realism, intending for viewers from afar to mistake this portrait for a real Goldfinch.

The Goldfinch perching

Today the world continues to flock to see this special little bird, most recently influenced by Donna Tartt’s novel, The Goldfinch. In the novel, which won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. We can’t spill too many details except for the fact that the painting plays an all-important role for the protagonist, Theo. At the end of the book he wonders what inspired Fabritius to paint a goldfinch of all things:

Why not something more typical? Why not a seascape, a landscape, a history painting, a commissioned portrait of some important person, a low-life scene of drinkers in a tavern, a bunch of tulips for heaven’s sake, rather than this lonely little captive? Chained to his perch? Who knows what Fabritius was trying to tell us by his choice of tiny subject? His presentation of tiny subject? And if what they say is true - if every great painting is really a self-portrait – what, if anything, is Fabritius saying about himself?

From: Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch, 2013

 



The Goldfinch, by Fabritius Painting Close Up



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