“A little piece of nothing, but very good, and extremely valuable on account of the signature of the man to whom Vermeer is connected […] It is a simple studio study, or sketch, after nature, of a goldfinch sitting on its perch, attached to a washed out wall, that calls to mind the bright bleached backgrounds that Vermeer was apparently so fond of.”
- French art critic Théophile Thoré (alias William Bürger) 1859 regarding Carel Fabritius “The Goldfinch” (Dutch: Het puttertje) 1654













