The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith
Written in prose so clear that we absorb its images as if by mind meld, The Last Painting is gorgeous storytelling: wry, playful, and utterly alive, with an almost tactile awareness of the emotional contours of the human heart. Vividly detailed, acutely sensitive to stratifications of gender and class, it's fiction that keeps you up at night -- first because you're barreling through the book, then because you've slowed your pace to a crawl, savoring the suspense. --Boston Globe
A New York Times BestsellerA New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice A RARE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PAINTING LINKS THREE LIVES, ON THREE CONTINENTS, OVER THREE CENTURIES IN THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS, AN EXHILARATING NEW NOVEL FROM DOMINIC SMITH. Amsterdam, 1631: Sara de Vos becomes the first woman to be admitted as a master painter to the city's Guild of St. Luke. Though women do not paint landscapes (they are generally restricted to indoor subjects), a wintry outdoor scene haunts Sara: She cannot shake the image of a young girl from a nearby village, standing alone beside a silver birch at dusk, staring out at a group of skaters on the frozen river below. Defying the expectations of her time, she decides to paint it. New York City, 1957: The only known surviving work of Sara de Vos, At the Edge of a Wood, hangs in the bedroom of a wealthy Manhattan lawyer, Marty de Groot, a descendant of the original owner. It is a beautiful but comfortless landscape. The lawyer's marriage is prominent but comfortless, too. When a struggling art history grad student, Ellie Shipley, agrees to forge the painting for a dubious art dealer, she finds herself entangled with its owner in ways no one could predict. Sydney, 2000: Now a celebrated art historian and curator, Ellie Shipley is mounting an exhibition in her field of specialization: female painters of the Dutch Golden Age. When it becomes apparent that both the original At the Edge of a Wood and her forgery are en route to her museum, the life she has carefully constructed threatens to unravel entirely and irrevocably.
Smith, Dominic: - Having lived in Brazil, Germany, UK, and Northern Ireland, the now - London based - Dominic, presents his story. Philosophy, at its most basic is your take on life and its biggest and most challenging questions. This is Dominic's take. He hopes it inspires you to think about yours. Dominic has been interested in poetry and story writing since a young child. This love grew and blossomed into a music career, writing songs and lyrics and performing all over the world. As a soloist he has won Best MC awards in 2014 and 2015, and as part of a band he won the Mercury Prize, a MOBO and a Q award in the late 90s. A career in radio soon followed, hosting a national chart show that kept him close to the music and rhymes he loves. The 'Bird and the Elephant' was inspired by a simple photo of a bird sat on an elephant's back. This brought forward thoughts about the wonderful conversations they might share together, and that transformed into the work you have just read and hopefully enjoyed.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780374106683 |
| ISBN 10 | 0374106681 |
| Title | The Last Painting of Sara De Vos |
| Author | Dominic Smith |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Sarah Crichton Books |
| Year published | 2016-04-05 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |