Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Readalikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A 19th Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Apr 2016, 304 pages
Paperback:
Nov 2016, 320 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Kim Kovacs
From one of the world's most expert art critics, the incredible true story - part art history and part mystery - of a Velázquez portrait that went missing and the obsessed nineteenth-century bookseller determined to prove he had found it.
When John Snare, a nineteenth-century provincial bookseller, traveled to a liquidation auction, he stumbled on a vivid portrait of King Charles I that defied any explanation. The Charles of the painting was young - too young to be king - and yet also too young to be painted by the Flemish painter to which the work was attributed. Snare had found something incredible - but what?
His research brought him to Diego Velázquez, whose long-lost portrait of Prince Charles has eluded art experts for generations. Velazquez (1599–1660) was the official painter of the Madrid court, during the time the Spanish Empire teetered on the edge of collapse. When Prince Charles of England - a man wealthy enough to help turn Spain's fortunes - ventured to the court to propose a marriage with a Spanish princess, he allowed just a few hours to sit for his portrait. Snare believed only Velázquez could have met this challenge. But in making his theory public, Snare was ostracized, victim to aristocrats and critics who accused him of fraud, and forced to choose, like Velázquez himself, between art and family.
A thrilling investigation into the complex meaning of authenticity and the unshakable determination that drives both artists and collectors of their work, The Vanishing Velázquez travels from extravagant Spanish courts in the 1700s to the gritty courtrooms and auction houses of nineteenth-century London and New York. But it is above all a tale of mystery and detection, of tragic mishaps and mistaken identities, of class, politics, snobbery, crime, and almost farcical accident. It is a magnificently crafted page-turner, a testimony to how and why great works of art can affect us to the point of obsession.
Excerpt
The Vanishing Velázquez
We see paintings in time and place (no picture makes this clearer, putting us on the spot and in the moment) and always in the context of our own lives. We cannot see them otherwise, no matter how objective we might hope to be. Novelists long ago recognized this truth; literature is full of characters falling in love with the people in paintings, obsessing over enigmatic figures or shapes, feeling intimidated—or intensely disappointed, in the case of Madame Bovary—by their first sighting of a tarry Old Master. Fictional people are allowed to have feelings about art entirely unconnected with the analysis of formal attributes, still less any knowledge of art history. But this is not how the rest of us are encouraged to view art by specialists and historians, for whom feelings may be dubious, unstable or irrelevant. If one should happen to experience an involuntary personal response, an eminent art historian once advised me, as if mentioning ...
Cumming writes an absorbing, quick-paced book that many non-fiction readers will enjoy. One needn't be an art aficionado to appreciate it. I found it similar to Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City from the standpoint that the author transforms a little-known subject into one that is endlessly entertaining.
(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
Full Review
(875 words).
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
Colm Toibin, author of Brooklyn and Nora Webster
The Vanishing Velazquez is a riveting detective story and a brilliant reconstruction of an art controversy, but it is also a homage to the art of Velazquez, written by a critic who remains spellbound by his genius, as readers will be spellbound by this book.Diego Velázquez (1599 - 1660) was a painter in the court of Spain's Philip IV during the Spanish Golden Age (Siglo de Oro), a period influenced by the Italian Renaissance, during which the arts flourished throughout the country. The exact dates of the Spanish Golden Age vary by commentator, but it began no earlier than 1492 with Columbus's discovery of the New World, and ended no later than 1681 with the death of author Pedro Calderon de la Barca. The movement encompassed literature, including poetry, plays and novels, music, sculpture, painting and architecture.
Some of Velázquez's contemporaries who were active during the time are:
El Greco (1541 – 1614)
El Greco means "The Greek" in Spanish, reflecting his ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked The Vanishing Velazquez, try these:
by Paul Staiti
Published 2017
A fascinating look at how the art world viewed the American Revolution, and how their work still effects the way we view those events today.
The Dead Duke, His Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse
by Piu Marie Eatwell
Published 2016
One of the most notorious and bizarre mysteries of the Edwardian age, for readers who loved The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
A timely novel that explores the human capacity for resiliency and compassion.
About the book
Paris Echo
by Sebastian Faulks
A story of resistance, complicity, and an unlikely, transformative friendship.
Reader Reviews
A Ladder to the Sky
by John Boyne
A seductive, unputdownable psychodrama following one brilliant, ruthless man.
Reader Reviews
Severance by Ling Ma
An offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire that is featured on more than twenty 2018 "Must Read" lists!
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends books that we believe to be best in class. Books that will whisk you to faraway places and times, that will expand your mind and challenge you -- the kinds of books you just can't wait to tell your friends about.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info & giveaways by email.
