The narrative follows a single, fictional Vermeer painting backwards through time, beginning with its mid-century concealment by a man whose father looted it from a Jewish family during the Holocaust. Each chapter recedes further into the past, tracing the canvas through the hands of a Dutch farm girl, a lovelorn student, and a merchant’s wife, eventually reaching the studio where the artist’s daughter modeled for the work. These interconnected stories document how the portrait influenced the private lives, financial survival, and aesthetic sensibilities of its various owners across three centuries of European history.
Art historians and readers interested in the Dutch Golden Age read this book to see the practical realities of seventeenth-century life and the technical processes of oil painting. The text provides a detailed look at how material objects survive wars, family collapses, and cultural shifts. Readers finish the book with an understanding of the provenance process and the specific ways a single piece of art connects disparate generations through their shared visual experience of light and color.
Balanced in tone; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1999
- Language
- EN
