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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
I was given this recommendation by a good friend some while ago and have been meaning to read. A night away and two long train journeys have finally allowed for this. It is a lovely book. Two stories of two female painters brought together by two paintings - one a copy/forgery of the other. There is a love story in there and a bit of mystery.
I really loved this book — it's just good old-fashioned storytelling with characters you get invested in. It made me reminiscent of the Netherlands and exposed me to a world I knew little about — art restoration, auctions and the like.
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Boring. Didn't really care about either storyline. Loved the art history elements of it though. And the shout-out to Dutch heritage. Bring on the herring for breakfast, please! I'll just be over here nibbling on my rusk while I wait.
This is a lovely novel, set in three different times and places. A Dutch woman paints in the 1600s, a young Australian woman paints a forgery of a painting owned by a wealthy New Yorker in the 1959s, and in the year 2000, the no longer young Australian is faced with the prospect of the real painting and the forgery coming together to her ruin. It is fascinating in its historical detail, and moving as we follow the characters through their lives. It's about art, connection, love, loss and regret, and it is quite beautiful.
Do you know the names of any seventeenth century Dutch women artists, just off the top of your head? I googled it - three. What about male Dutch artists of the same period - twenty four. Did women paint any less than men then? Unlikely - the urge to paint is just that, a personal expression - when you gotta paint, you gotta paint I guess. Sara de Vos is a fictional character, an amalgam of several actual women artists of the time. In this novel she is the first woman to be admitted into the guild of master artists. Women artists existed, but their signatures were never on the works they did, they were signed by husbands or male artists. Which is what happened to Sara: her husband and father of their daughter, being the earner, his signature was on her work as his own. Life takes a terrible turn for Sara, but she does manage to paint a most beautiful and haunting picture, that survives down through the centuries.
This painting ends up being bought by a wealthy Dutch merchant, staying in the same family through the years, until it ends up on the wall of his descendant, Marty de Groot who lives in New York. It is now 1957, and one day Marty notices that the painting hanging above the bed is actually a fake. How did this happen? In a very clandestine and deceitful fashion, obsessed with revenge, he tracks down the forger - a young Australian fine arts restoration student, Ellie Shipley who is living in New York at a subsistence level, unhappy, disillusioned. Extraordinarily talented, her skill at restoration leads her down the path of making a forgery of the de Vos painting.
The story moves effortlessly between the seventeenth century, the late 1950s and the year 2000 as the lives of Sara, her family, Ellie and Marty, and the painting itself unfold. In 2000 Ellie, now in her sixties, is a world renowned art historian living in Sydney. An exhibition of Dutch masters is taking place, and bizarrely, both of the paintings are on their way - the secretly reclaimed original back in the hands of Marty de Groot, and the fake which has been hanging in a Dutch gallery. Will Ellie's forgery past come back to haunt her? And what will happen when she and Marty meet up again after so many years?
This is such a good story - the plot alone is enough to compel one to pick it up and read. But it is also so extremely well written. Carefully paced, and moving effortlessly across time and back again, it's strength lies in the way relationships between the key characters develop, and how the plot hinges on these relationships. The author has also researched most thoroughly old Dutch masters, guilds, painting techniques, women artists . What was most fascinating was the secret world of stealing/forging/onselling stolen works of art, how these old and valuable works are forged so perfectly, the processes museums and art galleries go through to verify and restore works of art.
Very, very good.
This painting ends up being bought by a wealthy Dutch merchant, staying in the same family through the years, until it ends up on the wall of his descendant, Marty de Groot who lives in New York. It is now 1957, and one day Marty notices that the painting hanging above the bed is actually a fake. How did this happen? In a very clandestine and deceitful fashion, obsessed with revenge, he tracks down the forger - a young Australian fine arts restoration student, Ellie Shipley who is living in New York at a subsistence level, unhappy, disillusioned. Extraordinarily talented, her skill at restoration leads her down the path of making a forgery of the de Vos painting.
The story moves effortlessly between the seventeenth century, the late 1950s and the year 2000 as the lives of Sara, her family, Ellie and Marty, and the painting itself unfold. In 2000 Ellie, now in her sixties, is a world renowned art historian living in Sydney. An exhibition of Dutch masters is taking place, and bizarrely, both of the paintings are on their way - the secretly reclaimed original back in the hands of Marty de Groot, and the fake which has been hanging in a Dutch gallery. Will Ellie's forgery past come back to haunt her? And what will happen when she and Marty meet up again after so many years?
This is such a good story - the plot alone is enough to compel one to pick it up and read. But it is also so extremely well written. Carefully paced, and moving effortlessly across time and back again, it's strength lies in the way relationships between the key characters develop, and how the plot hinges on these relationships. The author has also researched most thoroughly old Dutch masters, guilds, painting techniques, women artists . What was most fascinating was the secret world of stealing/forging/onselling stolen works of art, how these old and valuable works are forged so perfectly, the processes museums and art galleries go through to verify and restore works of art.
Very, very good.
There is much to recommend in this story. As a piece of historical fiction it definitely broadened my learning of the17th century Dutch women artists.
With the three ‘strands’ of the story the author tried to capture the time and place of each and weave them together. This was not always successful - I felt the world of Sara to be the most vibrant and alive where as the world of Ellie to be more stilted and awkward - then there is Max who had a stronger presence then Ellie and a more believable one. There was way too much detail about the lifestyle of Max - he was pretty boring really! (is this the author? Does he want to be seen as this type of character?) It also feel that doesn’t write women very well maybe Max is a fuller character because he has a ‘bond’ with the masculine character.
I felt there were an abundance of tangents that were poorly executed and so often didn’t add anything to the story (from clothing, luggage, food, music, locations and past lives) with way too much description. Oh for the ease of a really good author… or editor!
The resolution after so many years - too simple but maybe it should be after all those years of torment….
In many ways the reader is given too much to work with - less may have been more interesting.
With the three ‘strands’ of the story the author tried to capture the time and place of each and weave them together. This was not always successful - I felt the world of Sara to be the most vibrant and alive where as the world of Ellie to be more stilted and awkward - then there is Max who had a stronger presence then Ellie and a more believable one. There was way too much detail about the lifestyle of Max - he was pretty boring really! (is this the author? Does he want to be seen as this type of character?) It also feel that doesn’t write women very well maybe Max is a fuller character because he has a ‘bond’ with the masculine character.
I felt there were an abundance of tangents that were poorly executed and so often didn’t add anything to the story (from clothing, luggage, food, music, locations and past lives) with way too much description. Oh for the ease of a really good author… or editor!
The resolution after so many years - too simple but maybe it should be after all those years of torment….
In many ways the reader is given too much to work with - less may have been more interesting.