Dutch Golden Age: 'The Goldfinch' and its Painter

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the morning of 12 October 1654, in the Dutch city of Delft, a sudden explosion was followed by a thunderclap that could be heard more than 70 miles away. Carel Fabritius - now known across the world for his exquisite painting ’The Goldfinch’ - had been at work in his studio. He, along with many others, would not survive the day.

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to The Observer’s art critic Laura Cumming whose new book, Thunderclap: A memoir of art and life & sudden death, reveals her passion for the art of the Dutch Golden Age and her determination to lift up the reputation of Fabritius.

This episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If you're a fan of this podcast, I've got some exciting news for you.
0:03.5	We're publishing a book, an actual book.
0:06.2	Have you ever wondered who the third man on the moon was?
0:10.2	Why a pigeon is a hero of the American army, and whether Napoleon was actually as small
0:16.3	as people say he was?
0:17.8	Well, History Hit Misscellanie has got all the answers.
0:20.8	It's available to pre-order now and will be published on the 28th of September, pre-order
0:25.8	from your favourite bookshop or visit historyhit.com slash book.
0:32.8	I don't know if you've heard of the name, Carol the Britsius, but I am sure that you know
0:43.6	his work, or at least one of his works, The Goldfinch, changed forever to its perch, looking
0:50.8	out at you who won't free him.
0:53.4	It was famous well before Donna Tutt's novel of 2013 brought it again to public attention.
1:00.2	It is a masterpiece by a genius artist.
1:03.4	Carol the Britsius, born in late February 1622 in one of the worst winters the Netherlands
1:09.7	had ever seen during the Lysage, and what is often said of the Britsius is that he was
1:15.1	taught by Rembrandt and taught Vermeer that almost everything he painted was destroyed
1:20.5	in the delft explosion of 1654, and that the artist himself was killed by it.
1:26.5	He certainly did die in that freak accident, but much of the rest of this is myth, as we'll
1:32.5	learn today from my guest.
1:35.6	My guest is Laura Cumming, she is the chief art critic of the Observer, and her three
1:40.0	previous books were A Face to the World on Self Portraits, The Vanishing Man in Pursuit
1:46.0	of Velasqueth, which won the James Tate Black biography prize, and on chapel sands my
	...

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