The captivating and mysterious tale of a Victorian bookseller whose fate was changed forever by the greatest painter of all time
Laura Cumming has been art critic of the Observer since 1999. Previously, she was a presenter of Nightwaves on Radio 3, arts producer for the BBC World Service and arts editor of the New Statesman. Her previous book, A Face to the World- On Self-Portraits, and the accompanying BBC Four documentary, received widespread critical acclaim.
The Vanishing Man is a riveting detective story and a brilliant
reconstruction of an art controversy, but it is also a homage to
the art of Velázquez, written by a critic who remains spellbound by
his genius, as readers will be spellbound by this book
*Colm Tóibín*
Sumptuous...A gleaming work of someone at the peak of her craft
*New York Times*
An extraordinary story ... This terrific book is many things, a
study in obsession, a paean of praise to an artist of genius, a
detective story and, for the author, an exorcism of grief. Writing
like Helen Macdonald in H is for Hawk, in the wake of the death of
her father, Cumming pours heart and soul in The Vanishing Man and
she has produced something of which her artist father, James
Cumming, would be more than proud
*Spectator*
Laura Cumming twists several genres around her supple fingers in
order to tell the extraordinary story of how Snare fell under the
spell of a painting and sacrificed everything - prosperity,
reputation, a respectable death surrounded by loving family - so
that he might live with it like a love ... The detective story
[...] gusts the plot along at a cracking pace... You put down The
Vanishing Man not quite sure how Cumming has been able to bring off
this particular magic trick, but happy and grateful that she
has.
*Guardian*
In this superb and original book, Cumming interweaves the gripping
story of Snare with that of Diego Velázquez himself, painting at
the court in Madrid in the 17th century.. Like Donna Tartt's novel
The Goldfinch, this is about the particular forms of obsession that
only art can generate... This enthralling book is about what it
means to create art so luminous that others would fight just to get
close to it
*Sunday Times*
This is an absorbing dual biography inspired by the author's
passion for Velázquez... Cumming brings her subject alive and
writes with empathy and insight
*Tatler*
A real-life detective story involving an Old Master portrait of an
ill-fated English king and an art obsession that would lead to the
ruin of one of the book's two mysterious protagonists: one a humble
19th-century printer and bookseller from Reading, John Snare; the
other the great 17th-century Spanish court painter named in the
title ... Interwoven into the narrative of Snare's tribulations,
and of beautifully compelling accounts of Velázquez's paintings,
are moving snippets of biography that reveal Cumming's own
relationship to the great Spanish master
*Independent*
Simultaneously art historian and detective, Cumming skilfully
weaves together the lives not only of Velázquez and Snare, but also
of the ill-fated king and of the man who unknowingly sparked her
interest in the Spanish artist — her late father, the painter James
Cumming.
*Financial Times*
Ingenious... intriguing... [Cumming] subtly interweaves the two
narratives - that of Snare and that of Velázquez - so that they
illuminate each other in surprising ways.
*Daily Telegraph*
The painter, writes Cumming, allowed every sitter 'his privacy, his
secrecy, his full mystery' even when revealing them for all to see
and in this accomplished and touching book she allows her two
subjects theirs
*Evening Standard*
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
