The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velázquez

Name: The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velázquez
Rating: 3.5 (8 reviews)

ISBN-10: 0099587041
ISBN-13: 9780099587040
Series: The Vanishing Man
Pages: 320
Language: English
Published: 2017-01-03
Publisher: Vintage
Author: Laura Cumming

Description

In 1845, a Reading bookseller named John Snare came across the dirt-blackened portrait of a prince at a country house auction. Suspecting that it might be a long-lost Velázquez, he bought the picture and set out to discover its strange history - a quest that led from fame to ruin and exile. Fusing detection and biography, this book shows how and why great works of art can affect us, even to the point of mania. And on the trail of John Snare, Cumming makes a surprising discovery of her own. But most movingly, The Vanishing Man is an eloquent and passionate homage to the Spanish master Velázquez, bringing us closer to the creation and appreciation of his works than ever before.