Three Masterpieces from Delft

VERMEER, FABRITIUS DE HOOCH: National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Sq W and Clare St, Dublin Mon-Sat 9.30am-5pm, Thurs 9.30am-8.30pm, Sun noon-5pm Feb 14-May 24 01-6615133Vermeer, one of the greatest European painters, is indelibly associated with the town of Delft. In the mid to late 17th century, the town was home not only to Vermeer but also Pieter de Hooch and the extraordinary if less widely known Carel Fabritius, making for a formidable concentration of talent in one small location.

The National Gallery is fortunate in possessing the Beit Vermeer Woman Writing a Letter with her Maid, and has borrowed paintings by the other two masters of Delft to provide a glimpse of a remarkable moment in art history. De Hooch's Courtyard of a House in Delftis a very well known painting from London's National Gallery. You may be less familiar with Fabritius's The Goldfinch, but it's a gem that's worth going to see in itself. It comes from the stunning collection of The Mauritshaus in The Hague, and in its spare clarity it perfectly complements the other paintings. Fabritius would certainly have achieved much more but for his untimely death. He had worked with Rembrandt and moved to Delft, where he is thought to have known Vermeer (who possessed paintings by him), but he was killed when a gunpowder store exploded in 1654.

Can't see that? Catch this: Margin, Vangard Gallery, Cork Until Mar 7