Cumming's starting point is an enigmatic seventeenth century painting of Delft by Fabritius, who died young when a gunpowder explosion devastated the city. What follows is a beautifully written account of Dutch artistic life of the period, interspersed with an appreciation of her painter father and snippets of her own life. I much preferred the brilliant evocation of painters, including Vermeer, de Hooch and de Witte, based on a close observation of their paintings, but all in all a gripping read.
(Tony Pratt - bwl 114 Autumn 2024 ) |
