“Thus did this Phoenix, to our loss, expire,
In the midstand at the height of his powers,
But happily there arose out of the fire
Vermeer, who masterfully trod in his path.”
This stanza from a poem by Arnold Bon is a tribute to Dutch artist Carel Fabritius who was killed in a gunpowder magazine explosion in Delft in 1654. He was born on February 27, 1622 and his most famous work is The Goldfinch.