Art in "The Goldfinch"

Artworks mentioned in Donna Tartt's "The Goldfinch." As this is Pinterest, read from the bottom up -- there may be MINOR SPOILERS in some of the descriptions. I am not an art history person and welcome any additions or corrections! Shoot me an e-mail at lpetelle at yahoo or visit me at laurapetelle.com

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"It's there in the light-rinsed atmosphere, the brush strokes he permits us to see, up close, for exactly what they are -- hand worked flashes of pigment, the very passage of the bristles visible -- and then, at a distance, the miracle, or the joke as Horst called it, although really it's both, the slide of transubstantiation where paint is paint and yet also feather and bone." p.766

Edouard Manet Paintings

Flowers in a Crystal Vase, Edouard Manet, ca. 1882, p.754. ("One -- flowers in a glass -- I dimly recognized as a Manet." One of a few flowers-in-glasses by Manet.)

an embroidered sample from the early nineteenth's, depicting people and animals in a forest

Deerfield Massachusetts

Learning Sewing

Vintage Samplers

American Impressionism

Needlework sampler, Alice Mather, 1774, p.749. (Example of sampler similar to gift for Hobie: "a child's needlework sampler, vine-curled alphabet and numerals, stylized farm animals worked in crewel, Marry Sturtevant Her Sample-r Aged 11 1779." This appears to be cross-stitch, not crewel-work.)

a painting of two people standing next to each other

FBI Says It Knows Who's Behind Biggest Art Museum Heist In History

A Lady and Gentleman in Black, Rembrandt, 1633, p.741. Perhaps the Rembrandt recovered by Boris's tip ("people in a dark room"), stolen in the same heist as the Rembrandt seascape in 1990. Has not resurfaced.

a painting of people on a boat in the ocean

Jesus Calms The Storm

The Sea Of Galilee

Sea Of Galilee

Calming The Storm

Most Famous Paintings

Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee, Rembrandt, 1633, p.741. This is the painting that Theo hopes has been recovered ("One was a Rembrandt." "Not a seascape?" "No -- people in a dark room."). Stolen in 1990, still missing; one of the most famous and valuable missing artworks in the world.

a book cover with an image of a boat in the water

Vincent Van Gogh Paintings

Arte Van Gogh

Van Gogh Museum

Impressionist Artists

Strand von Scheveningen bei stürmischen Wetter, Vincent Van Gogh, 1882, p.741. This is probably the Van Gogh seashore that is recovered through Boris's tip. Stolen in 2002 and has not resurfaced.

a painting of a candle and other items on a table with paper towels around it

Oil Painting Reproductions

White Ducks

Handmade Oil

Painting Reproductions

White Duck, Jean Baptiste Oudry, 1753, p.741, stolen in 1992; has not resurfaced. Perhaps the painting of a "dead duck" recovered by Boris's tip.

a painting of boats in the water with buildings in the background and cloudy skies above

Kunsthistorisches Museum

National Gallery Of Art

A view of the Maas with Dordrecht beyond, Jan van Goyen, 1640, p.580 (example; "I much prefer the van Goyen there ... many amusing details up close -- tiny hunter, barking dog. Also -- quite typical -- signed on the stern of the boat." This painting is signed on the rowboat.)

a painting of people riding horses on a dirt road

Italian Landscape with Mountain Plateau, Nicolaes Berchem, 1655, 13"x17", p. 577-8 ("Still, the Berchem is very good ... this is lovely ... Italy, 1655 ..... the ochres beautiful, no?")

a painting of a skull and other items on a table next to a burning candle

Pieter Claesz - Wikipedia

Vanitas, Pieter Claesz, 1625, p.577 ("the Claesz and Berchem are for sale if you're interested ... Pieter ... the reflection of the flame here? and the edge of the table, the drapery?")

an old tapestry with people and animals in the background, including a woman sitting on a bed

TAPISSERIE DE LA SERIE 'LES FEMMES ILLUSTRES DE L'ANTIQUITE' , PROBABLEMENT PARIS OU AMIENS, VERS 1645, PROBABLEMENT D'APRES UN MODELE DE CHARLES POERSON | Christie's

Tapestry from Amiens, ca. 1650, p.572 & 582 (an example; "a tapestry, a good one too, eighteenth century or older, the near twin of an Amiens I'd seen at auction [for 40,000 pounds] ... [with a mythological subject].")

an old black and white drawing of jesus in the mangeroom with other people

Chiaroscuro

Saatchi Gallery London

Rembrandt Etchings

Rembrandt Drawings

European Art

The Hundred Guilder Print, Rembrandt, 1646-50, p.569 ("the Hundred Guilder Print as it was called: the price that Rembrandt himself, according to legend, had been forced to pay to buy it back.")

a painting of fruit and flowers on a table

Famous Still Life Paintings

Still Life of Flowers, Fruit, Shells, and Insects by Balthasar van der Ast, 1629, p.498 (example; "and two loaned van der Asts")

a woman kneeling down in front of an old dresser

Book Club Reads

Antiques Roadshow

Furniture Inspiration

Antiques Roadshow | PBS

Drake-Front Queen Anne Highboy, New England, antique but refinished, appraised $200,000 intact, $30,000 refinished, p.496 ("We had an important drake-front highboy, Queen Anne, that during the lean days I'd tried despairingly to sell at the correct price, which on the low end was somewhere in the two hundred thousand range.")

an old wooden dresser with ornate carvings on the top and bottom drawers, against a black background

Book Club Food

Chippendale Furniture

THE LOOCKERMAN FAMILY CHIPPENDALE CARVED MAHOGANY CHEST- ON-CHEST , CASE ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS AFFLECK (1740-1795); CARVING ATTRIBUTED TO HERCULES COURTENAY (1744-1784), PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1770 | Christie's

Thomas Affleck Chest-on-Chest, sold at auction for $882,500; Theo passed off Hobie's work as an Affleck chest-on-chest to Lucius Reeve, for $75,000, p.492 ("if he thought that chest was an Affleck, he has more money than sense. To pay seventy-five thousand --")