THE GOLDFINCH (After Fabritius)

2020
Country: UK
Duration: 4 mins
|31 Seconds
Colour,
Sound: Stereo
Ratio: 16:9
Available Format/s: HD Digital file
Original Format: HD Video

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The containment of this beautiful free and wild bird in cages and museums while both living and after its death. One can not help but associate it metaphorically with our own curtailed freedom as a result of the covid lockdown situation with its imposed spatial restrictions and travel limitations.The idea for this film came after viewing the original Goldfinch painting by Carel Fabritius and the unfortunate experience of watching a Goldfinch slowly die on the front doorstep of my house. Those melancholic feelings were intensified still further when I discovered that there are some people who still keep this bird locked up in cages.The Goldfinch is a wild bird from early times has been admired, captured and caged for its beauty. That was also true of Amsterdam and Delft in 1654 when Carel Fabritius, pupil of Rembrandt, known for his experimentation with perspective and light, made his now famous painting ‘The Goldfinch’. Fabritius unfortunately died early at the age of 32 as a result of a gunpowder explosion in Delft which destroyed a large part of the city including Fabritius’s studio.

More works by John Woodman

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