The Happy Child
Artist: Carel Fabritius (Dutch, 1622-1654)
Date: about 1645-1650
Dimensions:
H: 43 1/4 in. (109.9 cm); W: 31 1/2 in. (80 cm)
Medium: Oil on wood panel
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1961.12
Label Text:Charming and natural, this portrait of a child and two women suggests the devotion to children characteristic of Dutch 17th-century culture. The simple dress of the women, especially compared to the child’s more elaborate costume, reveals that they are nursemaids, not relatives. The painting seems to have been cut down some time in its history (evidence of a fourth figure remains at the bottom left); perhaps the missing part included the child’s parents. The child is a boy—boys wore long skirts until about age five or six and were typically portrayed in active poses in portraits.
Carel Fabritius is often cited as Rembrandt’s most gifted student (see Rembrandt’s Man in a Fur-lined Coat nearby). Tragically, he died in 1654, aged 32 and at the height of his career, in the massive explosion of the Delft gunpowder magazine. The explosion devastated a large area of the city and killed as many as 1,000 people. Fabritius was reportedly painting the portrait of a local official at the time of the blast. Many of his paintings were also destroyed.
Carel Fabritius is often cited as Rembrandt’s most gifted student (see Rembrandt’s Man in a Fur-lined Coat nearby). Tragically, he died in 1654, aged 32 and at the height of his career, in the massive explosion of the Delft gunpowder magazine. The explosion devastated a large area of the city and killed as many as 1,000 people. Fabritius was reportedly painting the portrait of a local official at the time of the blast. Many of his paintings were also destroyed.
Not on view
In Collection(s)