Three masters - Carel Fabritius, Pieter de Hooch and Johannes Vermeer - dominate the exhibition Vermeer and the Delft School, at the National Gallery until 16 September. It shows painting done in the town during the first 75 years of the 17th century. Of the three masters Fabritius is the least Delft-like. His subject-matter is not domestic, predictable or repetitious - and that of most of the Delft painters, even the very good ones, is one or all of those things. He matured quickly - we wouldn't be able to rate him so highly if he had not, for he died at the age of 32 when the city gunpowder magazine blew up. (The ruins are recorded in a very neat painting by van der Poel.)

LRB 5 July 2001 | PDF Download