The Happy Child

Artist Carel Fabritius (Dutch, 1622-1654)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Dateabout 1645-1650

DimensionsH: 43 1/4 in. (109.9 cm); W: 31 1/2 in. (80 cm)

MediumOil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1961.12

Not on View

Label TextCharming 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.Published ReferencesSmith, J., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, London, VII, 1836, p. 65, no. 147 (as Rembrandt, dated 1641).

Waagen, G., Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London, 1854, III, p. 221 (as Maes).

Bode, W., Great Masters of Dutch and Flemish Painting, London, 1909, p. 50 (as The Nurse).

Hofstede de Groot, C., A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century Based on the Work of John Smith, London, VI, 1916, p. 499, no. 85.

Valentiner, W., Nicolaes Maes, Stuttgart, 1924, pp. 43-44, pl. 5 (etching).

Gerson, H., Het Tijdperk van Rembrandt en Vermeer, Amsterdam, 1952, p. 25, pl. 61.

Wittmann, Otto, "Nicolaes Maes: The Happy Child," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, IV, no. 4, Autumn 1961, pp. 75-78, repr. on cover. Link to resource

Toledo Museum of Art, Age of Rembrandt: an Exhibition of Dutch Paintings of the 17th Century, 1966, no. 30, repr. p. 65.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 100, pl. 135.

Sumowski, Werner, Gemälde der Rembrandt-Schüler, Landau/Pfalz, 1983, vol. 3, no. 1328, p. 2011, repr. p. 2054 (col.).

Plaut, J., "Retrieving the Loot," Art News, Aug. 1946, p. 48, repr.

"Important Recent Acquisitions by United States Museum," The Illustrated London News, Jan. 27, 1962, p. 145, repr.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, Oct.-Dec., 1961," The Art Quarterly, vol. XXV, no. 1, Spring 1962, p. 79.

Toledo Museum of Art, A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1966, repr. (col.).

Wittmann, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 469, repr. fig. 15, p. 473.

Gerson, Horst, Rembrandt Paintings, Amsterdam, 1968, p. 118, repr.

Bader, Alfred, The Bible Through Dutch Eyes, Milwaukee, 1976, p. 26 (not in exhibition).

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 55.

Blankert, Albert, "Rembrandt and His Followers: Notes on Connoisseurship - Its Potential and Pitfalls," in Rembrandt and His Pupils, Stockholm, 1993, pp. 78, 79, 83, 95, no. 4, p. 96, no. 6, fig. 2, p. 79. [as Anonymous artist].

Krempel, Leon, Studien zu den datierten Gemalden des Nicholaes Maes (1634-1693), Petersberg, 2000, no. E9, p. 365, abb. 418.

Duncan, Sally Anne, Otto Wittmann: Museum Man for All Seasons, Toledo, 2001, p. 21.

Yeide, Nancy H., Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: the Hermann Goering Collection, Dallas, Laurel Publishing, 2009, no. A973, p. 357, repr. p. 143.

Exhibition HistoryParis, Orangerie, Les chefs-d'oeuvre des collections privées francaises retrouvé en Allemagne par la Commission de Récuperation Artistique et les Services Alliés, 1946, no. 88.

Toledo Museum of Art, Age of Rembrandt, Nov. 27, 1966 - Jan. 8, 1967.