Carel Fabritius Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Carel Fabritius
Self-portrait (c. 1645)
Born	Carel Pietersz. Fabritius baptised 27 February 1622 Middenbeemster, Dutch Republic
Died	12 October 1654 (aged 32) Delft, Dutch Republic
Education	Rembrandt
Movement	Delft School
Spouse(s)	Agatha van Pruyssen

Carel Fabritius (born 1622 – died 1654) was an important Dutch painter. He was a student of the famous artist Rembrandt in Amsterdam. Fabritius was part of the Delft School of painters. He created his own special style, trying out new ways to use perspective and light in his art. Some of his most famous paintings include A View of Delft (1652) and The Goldfinch (1654).

About Carel Fabritius
- Early Life and Training
- Tragic End
Fabritius's Unique Painting Style
- Focus on Light and Space
Images for kids
See also

About Carel Fabritius

Carel Fabritius was born in February 1622 in a village called Middenbeemster. This village was in a polder (land reclaimed from water) in the Dutch Republic, which is now the Netherlands. His father, Pieter Carelsz., was a painter and a schoolteacher. Carel also had two younger brothers, Barent and Johannes, who became painters too.

Early Life and Training

Fabritius first worked as a carpenter. This is where his last name, Fabritius, comes from, as it means "carpenter" in Latin. In the early 1640s, he went to study art in Amsterdam. He learned from the well-known painter Rembrandt, working in his studio alongside his brother Barent.

Later, in the early 1650s, Carel moved to the city of Delft. In 1652, he joined the painters' guild there. A guild was like a club or association for skilled workers, in this case, artists.

Tragic End

Fabritius died very young at the age of 32. On October 12, 1654, a large explosion happened in Delft. It was caused by a gunpowder storage area blowing up. This terrible event destroyed a quarter of the city, including Fabritius's art studio and many of his paintings. Because of this, only about a dozen of his paintings have survived today. It is believed that his student Mattias Spoors and a church official named Simon Decker also died with him. They were working on a painting together at the time.

Fabritius's Unique Painting Style

Carel Fabritius was special among Rembrandt's students. He was the only one who developed a truly unique artistic style. Rembrandt often painted portraits with dark backgrounds, using bright light to highlight the person. Fabritius, however, used a different approach. He painted people with soft, gentle light against light-colored, textured backgrounds.

Focus on Light and Space

Fabritius was very interested in the technical side of painting. He moved away from the older Renaissance style, which focused a lot on symbols and stories. Instead, he explored how light and color could create shapes and feelings. He used cool colors to make his paintings look bright and glowing.

He also liked to experiment with how space looked in his art. You can see this in his painting A View of Delft, with a Musical Instrument Seller's Stall (1652). In this painting, he used an exaggerated perspective to make the scene look very wide and deep. He was also very skilled at using thick paint, as shown in The Goldfinch (1654).

Fabritius's unique ideas about light, color, and space influenced other famous painters in Delft. These included Vermeer and de Hooch. It is very likely that Fabritius had a strong impact on their work.