The Last Painting of Sara de Vos (2016)

I listened to this book in audiobook format, unabridged. About halfway through, though, I did something I rarely do: I borrowed a hard copy from the library as well, as there were parts I wanted to look back at and that is the one thing that is not easy to do with an audiobook. This proved to be a good decision.

This is almost time travel story. In 1631, Sara de Vos is the wife of a landscape painter, and is a talented painter in her own right, the first woman admitted to Amsterdam's Guild of master painters. Although women usually only paint indoor still lifes, Sara is mesmerized by a scene she has witnessed of a lone girl standing beside the river, watching skaters at dusk, and decided to paint it. After the sudden death of their young daughter, the life that Sara and her husband lead begins to unravel and eventually, comes apart. The painting, however, survives. Fast forward to the 1950s, where a wealthy New York lawyer, Marty de Groot, has owned the painting that has been in family for generations. It hangs over his bed until one day, he suddenly discovers that it has been replaced by a forged copy. The mystery of how or even when, this happened, or where the original might be, obsesses him and he hires a private detective to try to find out. The events that lead him to the truth haunt him in ways that he could not have expected. It isn't until the year 2000 that the circle closes, that the forger and Marty make peace.

Throughout the book, the chapters alternate between Sara's story and Marty's story (as well as Ellie -- the forger's -- story). I have to say, the reader of this audiobook, Edoardo Ballerini, is excellent. His voice is quiet, understated but eloquent and he is masterful at accents and giving voice to the characters. But most of all, the writing is beautiful. I want to include just 2 short excerpts here, from the very end of the book, as a sample:

"The cold air burns her cheeks as she skates along, pushing into long glides, her hands behind her back, the sound of her skate blades like the sharpening of a knife on a whetstone. She wants to skate for miles, to fall until midnight into this bracing pleasure. The bare trees glitter with ice along the riverbank, a complement to the inking stars. The night feels unpeeled, as if she's burrowed into its flesh. Here is the bone and armature, the trees holding up the sky like the ribs of a ship, the ice hardening the river into a mirror too dull to see the sky's full reflection. Everything flits by except the sky and her thoughts, both of which seem to widen and gyre in a loose, clockwise procession...Everything is strung together on the line of her skates, swooping curves and perfect delineations of her wistful thinking. She is light upon the ice, a weightless passenger."

"Every work is a depiction and a lie. We rearrange the living, exaggerate the light, intimate dusk when it's really noonday sun..." ( )

This is the book I recommend when someone asks for a Historic Fiction novel. Set during 3 time periods, the Dutch Renaissance, NYC in the 1950's, and the present, it explores the lives of a female Dutch artist and a modern day art historian. It was fascinating to read about the craft of Dutch landscape painting as well as the technique and finesse used to counterfeit a Dutch masterpiece. It was equally interesting to compare the roles of women in art both in the past and today. Excellent story that was captivating and informative! ( )

I did enjoy this book although I wouldn't rate it up there with some of my favs. It totally held my interest. The plot moves along smoothly even though it is told in three time periods. The ending was satisfying. Because it is about the art world and its craggy corners, it was reminiscent a bit of The Goldfinch. ( )

(47) A rare new release hardcover I sometimes will splurge for. I like novels that connect people from two distant points in time and space. I love the magic of art and literature in that it does just that. A painting by a Dutch painter in the 1600's depicts a young girl watching ice skaters from a distance - "At the Edge of the Wood." Although nowhere in the novel is there a picture of this fictional painting, I really feel as if I have seen it before by the end of the novel. Ellie Shipley is an art history PhD who is writing her dissertation on women painters from the 17th century and she gets pulled into the life of the owner of the above-mentioned De Vos work. A parallel story of Sara De Vos herself threads in and out of the novel as she narrates the events of her life and how she came to paint the artwork. It is well done and entertaining.

The author writes well - restrained, well-structured and engaging prose that doesn't get in the way of good story-telling. There is just not that "wow" factor and I feel as if I have read this story before - "Girl with a Pearl Earing" by Chevalier is the obvious comparison, but also "Kostova's "Swan Thieves" is somewhat similar.

Overall, a solid entertaining read. Not extraordinary, but still worth reading (maybe not the hardcover though.) I would read this author again and recommend it to those who like novels that change times and settings and are centered around an object that transcends time. ( )

This book ranges from the world of a female Dutch painter (Sara de Vos) in the 1600s to the U.S. in the 1950s (the man who owns the only known painting done by de Vos and a young female art historian/restorer/forger) to the year 2000 in Australia where all of these characters come together, and finally back to Holland for the final denouement. The author writes in such an evocative and atmospheric manner that it is easy to picture the surroundings and feel like you're right there. The book is beautifully and elegantly written. Highly recommended. ( )