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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Hovering between 3.5 and 4 stars.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos is beautifully written, and extensively researched in a way that adds layers to the writing, but that never comes across as overbearing or excessive. It artfully blends historical fiction with fiction-fiction, the fabricated de Vos mixed in with the likes of Vermeer. All three ages (Golden Age Holland, Brooklyn of the 1950s, and contemporary Sydney) are well built and authentic ; Smith's prose captures the essence of each era.
But, I'll be honest with you - I am a very uncultured person. I cannot spend hours at an art gallery - I can spend 10 minutes max looking at a painting. War or Natural History Museums can captivate me for weeks, but art escapes me. And so, even in a well written novel about art, I became bored. This is completely my own inadequacy, and nothing to do with the book itself, but do know that if you're like me, the plot will drag in the middle and you might fall asleep. I needed much more Sara, and a lot less Marty.
Would watch the movie though (if it were optioned), if only for the feminist undertones that hum too softly throughout the novel, but that would work wonderfully in film.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos is beautifully written, and extensively researched in a way that adds layers to the writing, but that never comes across as overbearing or excessive. It artfully blends historical fiction with fiction-fiction, the fabricated de Vos mixed in with the likes of Vermeer. All three ages (Golden Age Holland, Brooklyn of the 1950s, and contemporary Sydney) are well built and authentic ; Smith's prose captures the essence of each era.
But, I'll be honest with you - I am a very uncultured person. I cannot spend hours at an art gallery - I can spend 10 minutes max looking at a painting. War or Natural History Museums can captivate me for weeks, but art escapes me. And so, even in a well written novel about art, I became bored. This is completely my own inadequacy, and nothing to do with the book itself, but do know that if you're like me, the plot will drag in the middle and you might fall asleep. I needed much more Sara, and a lot less Marty.
Would watch the movie though (if it were optioned), if only for the feminist undertones that hum too softly throughout the novel, but that would work wonderfully in film.
I think probably 90 percent of what I know about fine art comes from novels about art forgers. Add another one to the list. This is a lovely tale that weaves together the present, the not-too-distant past, and the distant past with interlocking stories. And some art forgery.
had its moments but nothing i would write home about tbh but i liked the themes surrounding art forgery it was cool and i like how they included the artists life
I found this an interesting book as it weaved together three different timelines. It explored the relationship between a 17th century artist, her 20th century forger and the owner of both original and forgery.
The writing was good and I think I might have stretched to 5 starts if I hadn't just read two magnificent books. Such is life. Well worth a read
The writing was good and I think I might have stretched to 5 starts if I hadn't just read two magnificent books. Such is life. Well worth a read
I really enjoyed this book. I am a big fan on dual plot lines and I thought this was a winner. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos tells the two tales of the Dutch painter Sara de Vos who lived during the golden era of Flemish painters, and a modern day drama to create a forgery of the one painting attributed to the artist. The characters are complex and wonderfully flawed and the story moves along at a nice pace, but not without some pleasant twists and turns. This was exactly what I was looking for a travel read this summer. I would recommend this if anyone is looking for a good read.
I recently finished Dominic Smith’s latest book, Return to Valetto, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to read an earlier novel of his which I had been on my to-read pile for quite some time.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos covers three time periods in three different continents. In New York in 1957, Marty de Groot is robbed of the sole painting attributed to Sara de Vos and left with a “meticulous fake.” Entitled “At the Edge of a Wood,” the painting has been in his family for over 300 years. Marty hires a private detective who discovers that the forger was a graduate student of art history, Ellie Shipley. Marty adopts an alias, Jake Alpert, to entrap Ellie.
In 1637 in Amsterdam, Sara de Vos, the first woman to be admitted into St. Luke’s guild of master painters, paints “At the Edge of a Wood” to help her cope with an unimaginable loss.
In 2000, in Sydney, Australia, Ellie Shipley, now a renowned art historian, awaits the arrival of two paintings entitled “At the Edge of a Wood,” one the original and one the forgery she herself painted almost 50 years earlier. One is coming from the Netherlands and one is being personally delivered by Marty de Groot.
There is sufficient suspense to engage the reader throughout. What will Marty do when he uncovers the identity of the forger? Did Sara de Vos paint only this one painting? Will Ellie’s crime be revealed and her reputation ruined and career destroyed?
Lovers of art will certainly enjoy this book which examines one painting’s impact on people hundreds of years after its creation. Personally I loved the parallels between a painting’s canvas and the canvas of a person’s life. The painting process, and restoration process too, involves the layering of paints just as over a lifetime, we layer on experiences which shape our lives. The canvases of people’s lives show layers of grime, damage, and the effects of time, so the past cannot be totally escaped.
Ellie, for instance, after agreeing to “copy” de Vos, has worked hard to hide that choice but “The forgery didn’t stop after she’d handed off the canvas, it continued into the unfolding of years – the plush academic job, the marriage to an art dealer, the publications and curating of exhibits, none of these spoils would have been offered if anyone knew what she’d done. . . . She never stopped painting the beautiful fake.” Marty admits that he “carries the past around like a bottle of antacids in his pocket. . . . You live among the ruins of the past, carry them in your pockets, wishing you’d been decent and loving and talented and brave.”
I enjoyed the stories of all three characters, especially the examination of their motives. Anger in fact connects all three: Sara is angry at her husband’s choices, Marty is angry at “those who wronged him,” and Ellie “recognized her own recurring anger at being overlooked.” When there are multiple main characters in a novel, I often find one of the narratives less appealing, but that is not the case here. All three emerge as distinct characters, with both flaws and redeeming qualities, and interesting backstories.
On a personal note, I began reading this novel while on a visit to family in the Netherlands so I loved the description of the Dutch “sturdy, unflappable manner and their occasional brusqueness.” We visited the seaside village of Zoutelande in the province of Zeeland so I enjoyed the references to “the dunes of Zeeland” where “German tourists can bunk down with their entire brood” since I climbed those dunes and discovered that German is the second language in that area.
This is a wonderful book which touches on so many human impulses and emotions: anger, ambition, revenge, deceit, regret. Full of suspense and memorable characters, it is a work of both creativity and meticulous research. I highly recommend it.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos covers three time periods in three different continents. In New York in 1957, Marty de Groot is robbed of the sole painting attributed to Sara de Vos and left with a “meticulous fake.” Entitled “At the Edge of a Wood,” the painting has been in his family for over 300 years. Marty hires a private detective who discovers that the forger was a graduate student of art history, Ellie Shipley. Marty adopts an alias, Jake Alpert, to entrap Ellie.
In 1637 in Amsterdam, Sara de Vos, the first woman to be admitted into St. Luke’s guild of master painters, paints “At the Edge of a Wood” to help her cope with an unimaginable loss.
In 2000, in Sydney, Australia, Ellie Shipley, now a renowned art historian, awaits the arrival of two paintings entitled “At the Edge of a Wood,” one the original and one the forgery she herself painted almost 50 years earlier. One is coming from the Netherlands and one is being personally delivered by Marty de Groot.
There is sufficient suspense to engage the reader throughout. What will Marty do when he uncovers the identity of the forger? Did Sara de Vos paint only this one painting? Will Ellie’s crime be revealed and her reputation ruined and career destroyed?
Lovers of art will certainly enjoy this book which examines one painting’s impact on people hundreds of years after its creation. Personally I loved the parallels between a painting’s canvas and the canvas of a person’s life. The painting process, and restoration process too, involves the layering of paints just as over a lifetime, we layer on experiences which shape our lives. The canvases of people’s lives show layers of grime, damage, and the effects of time, so the past cannot be totally escaped.
Ellie, for instance, after agreeing to “copy” de Vos, has worked hard to hide that choice but “The forgery didn’t stop after she’d handed off the canvas, it continued into the unfolding of years – the plush academic job, the marriage to an art dealer, the publications and curating of exhibits, none of these spoils would have been offered if anyone knew what she’d done. . . . She never stopped painting the beautiful fake.” Marty admits that he “carries the past around like a bottle of antacids in his pocket. . . . You live among the ruins of the past, carry them in your pockets, wishing you’d been decent and loving and talented and brave.”
I enjoyed the stories of all three characters, especially the examination of their motives. Anger in fact connects all three: Sara is angry at her husband’s choices, Marty is angry at “those who wronged him,” and Ellie “recognized her own recurring anger at being overlooked.” When there are multiple main characters in a novel, I often find one of the narratives less appealing, but that is not the case here. All three emerge as distinct characters, with both flaws and redeeming qualities, and interesting backstories.
On a personal note, I began reading this novel while on a visit to family in the Netherlands so I loved the description of the Dutch “sturdy, unflappable manner and their occasional brusqueness.” We visited the seaside village of Zoutelande in the province of Zeeland so I enjoyed the references to “the dunes of Zeeland” where “German tourists can bunk down with their entire brood” since I climbed those dunes and discovered that German is the second language in that area.
This is a wonderful book which touches on so many human impulses and emotions: anger, ambition, revenge, deceit, regret. Full of suspense and memorable characters, it is a work of both creativity and meticulous research. I highly recommend it.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
that was boring. in the places where there should have been tension or suspense there just wasn't. it just felt so bland and like nothing actually happened.
I had high hopes for this book but was ultimately very disappointed. It was boring, confusing, and the author clearly has no clue how to write female characters!
Beautifully written, but I couldn't stop thinking about or comparing it to The Art Forger and I preferred the latter.