Fabritius was killed in the powder magazine explosion that devastated Delft in 1654- and most of his work perished with him. He was 32. This is his most famous painting.
He's one of art history's great might-have-beens. Something like 12 secure arttributions survive- plus a number of possibles, some of them previously attributed to Rembrandt. (Yes, he was that good.) Several of them- like the Goldfinch (which seems more like a work of the 19th than the 17th century) are remarkably bold and innovative. He trained in Rembrandt's studio and in his turn influenced Vermeer.
