The Goldfinch

Carel Fabritius's Goldfinch from 1654, in the Mauritshuis, is one of the most famous small paintings in European art—a life-sized goldfinch chained to its perch, painted with breathtaking economy and precision. The painting may have been designed as a trompe-l'oeil decoration or part of a perspective box. Fabritius painted it in the year of his death in the Delft powder magazine explosion, and its intimate scale and innovative light technique influenced Vermeer. Donna Tartt's 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel took its title and central narrative from this painting.

The painting's technique is daringly minimal—the goldfinch is rendered with a few precisely placed strokes of yellow, brown, red, and white against a pale background. The light-ground technique, with its subtle shadows and atmospheric softness, represents a radical departure from the dark-ground conventions of Dutch painting.