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Delft, 1654

Delft in the 1650s was a small town with an unusually strong set of painters. Carel Fabritius, Rembrandt's most original pupil, arrived around 1650; Johannes Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch joined the same painters' guild within a few years of him. Then, on 12 October 1654, the town's gunpowder store exploded.

Sources: Wikipedia: DelftBritannicaWikipedia: Pieter de Hooch

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1

Pieter de Hooch, born in Rotterdam, was living in Delft by 1652 in the household of the man who employed him. Within a few years he had moved his pictures out of taverns and stables and into the sunlit yards of ordinary homes.

Sources: WikipediaBritannica
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2

Vermeer was born in Delft and took over his father's art-dealing business there in 1652. He joined the painters' guild in December 1653, ten months before the explosion, and was later elected its head four times.

Source: Wikipedia
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The artists knew each other

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3

Carel Fabritius moved to Delft around 1650 and joined its guild in 1652. On 12 October 1654 the gunpowder store blew up across the lane from his studio; he was pulled from the rubble alive but died soon after, aged 32.

Sources: WikipediaBritannica
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A hidden link

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