“A View of Delft” by Carel Fabritius

“A View of Delft” by Carel Fabritius
“A View of Delft”, Carel Fabritius, 1652, oil on canvas. Image Source.

“A View of Delft”

I am very happy to share this artist with you today. Carel Fabritius was part of the Dutch Golden Age of Art. He died in an explosion in Delft along with most of his paintings when he was just 32 years old. For many years, he was known simply as a student of Rembrandt but in recent years has been given more credit. Today, he is known for his progressive artistic style and techniques and is now recognized as an influential artist of the Delft school. There was much more to this man than history has left us.

“A View of Delft” is an oil on canvas painting by the Dutch Baroque artist, Carel Fabritius, from 1652. This wonderful painting is a wide-angle view of the cityscape of Delft and is believed to be the first street view painting of Delft ever made.

In this piece, Fabritius deftly paints a music instrument seller sitting in his stall with his wares. He stares off into the distance as in thought, while he idly rubs his chin with his thumb. A lute rests against the wall beside him, and a viol is laying on the table. The viola is foreshortened and cut off at the bottom, resulting in a perspective that gives an immediacy and closeness to the viewer. It is as if you are there. Fabritius signed and dated the painting on the wall inside the stall.

“A View of Delft” by Carel Fabritius
Detail of the man, instruments, and Fabritius’s signature. Image Source.

A street corner is visible in the background. It curves dramatically from end to the other. A canal lines the road, with several canal bridges depicted. After wandering around Google maps, I found that the view is looking west at the intersection of Oude Langendijk and Vrouwenregt. The church in the background is Nieuwe Kerk, where William the Silent was buried, and a place you can still visit today. Several pedestrians and trees line the streets, giving a better scale of size to the viewer. It is a visual slice of the city life of in Delft at this time.

“A View of Delft” by Carel Fabritius, detail
Detail of the street view with Nieuwe Kerk in the background. Image Source.

The unique distortion of the perspective of the painting has led to the idea that this was most likely used in a perspective box. The painting would be fully enclosed in a box with the canvas curved around the box frame. The viewer would look through a peephole and the result would be the illusion of a three-dimensional scene. This painting is relatively small, 8.2 x 14.1 in (20.9 x 35.7 cm) and the unique rectangular dimensions provide further evidence that it was created to be used in a perspective box.

I only recently learned of this artist by reading Laura Cumming’s book, Thunderclap: A Memoir of Art and Life & Sudden Death. I highly recommend it.

A View of Delft” is currently in the collections of the National Gallery in London, England.

For more on Carel Fabritius, please visit his short biography here.

"Young Man in a Fur Cap" by Carel Fabritius

You can find more artists to learn about here.

myddoa Artists

Leave a Reply

Daily Dose of Art
Scroll to Top