A mere three days after we viewed Vermeer’s Woman in Blue Reading a Letter in Los Angeles, Tom & I were standing in front of yet another Vermeer in San Francisco, the much-beloved Girl with a Pearl Earring. Popularized in recent years by both a novel & a movie, Girl is an example of a tronie, which is a sub-category of portraiture. A tronie depicts either an exaggerated facial expression, such as a grimace, or a stock character, such as this anonymous woman in exotic dress. The painting is one of around 3 dozen from The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, located in The Hague, Netherlands, currently on display at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.
When I first learned about the de Young exhibit, I was ecstatic, but not just because of the Vermeer. It was also because of the opportunity to see another painting from the Mauritshuis that has long been a favorite of mine, although I had only known it from reproductions: The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius. Apparently this little masterpiece has a cult-like following: It seems that everyone who sees it is immediately entranced by it. Although only about 13×9”, I can assure you that it carries with tremendous ease across a crowded gallery.
Fabritius studied at Rembrandt’s studio. Unfortunately, he died in his early thirties from injuries suffered in the gunpowder explosion which destroyed a large part of Delft in 1654. Looking at The Goldfinch, one cannot help but wonder what Fabritius would have achieved over the years had he been able to continue along his artistic path for at least another decade or two. As it is, he has left us a frustratingly small number of his paintings.
In The Goldfinch, we see the bird perched on one of two curved metal bars which surround a wooden hinged box. The box is attached to a yellow wall. One end of a fine chain is connected to the bird’s leg, the other end to a large ring which encircles the metal bar. Despite being thus tethered, we imagine that the goldfinch’s gaze in our direction is really quite sanguine, & the overall effect of the painting is that of a trompe l’oeil, in which we are convinced that this scene is real: Any moment now, we will hear a chirp or see a flutter of wings.
After coming to the end of the exhibit, I turned around & walked back through the galleries – which was akin to swimming upstream due to the late-afternoon crowds – for one more look at this little gem. As I rounded a corner & my eyes picked it out across the room, it appeared to be glowing as though lit from within. And then I realized one of the things that sets it apart from all the other paintings in this exhibit: It has a light-valued background instead of a dark-valued background. Moreover, the yellows of that background (which represent the wall in the painting) are simply stupendous. The cast shadows of the bird & wooden box painted against it make them practically pop off the picture surface & this contributes to the trompe l’oeil effect. Furthermore, whereas the inanimate objects are painted with convincing detail, the bird itself is rendered almost impressionistically. Others have pointed out that this creates a sensation of movement in the bird, again adding to the illusion.
Being able to see The Goldfinch in person was a memorable experience. Hopefully, Tom & I will be able to see it again someday. One thing is certain: Very few, if any, reproductions have done this painting justice because they do not capture those yellows accurately. Having said that, it is a testament to Fabritius’ skill & genius that so many people have grown to love this painting from merely seeing it in a book or on a postcard, as I did.