Donna Tartt’s best-selling novel, The Goldfinch was named after the 17th century Carel Fabritius painting of the same name, and is helping to stir a renewed interest in the artwork.
The Frick Collection in New York is seeing record visitors thanks to the book. “I think the bird has now blown up in people’s minds because of the book,” Margaret Iacono, assistant curator of the Frick, told CBS News.
The painting was acquired by The Frick in 1896. Here is more about the painting from the museum’s website:
Fabritius uses a minimum of quick strokes to portray the house pet’s downy body. Such expert manipulation of paint to suggest form and texture may have been assimilated from Rembrandt, with whom he studied. Whatever the panel’s initial purpose — possibly a component of a birdcage or a cover for an encased painting — the little bird chained to his feed box is a masterpiece of trompe l’oeil illusionism. Vermeer — like Fabritius, a resident of Delft — was highly influenced by the artist’s pristine lighting and composed tranquility.