The Vanishing Velázquez: A 19th Century Bookseller’s Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece
by Laura Cumming
I just re-read this for the third time. It is an absolutely spellbinding story of a man without means who dares to buy a Velazquez at a time when collecting masters was an activity of aristocrats. This man becomes obsessed with his picture. And over time he finds his life falling apart. His wife leaves him and he has to go abroad with his picture where he probably died of poverty (all his money used to fight off lawsuits and advertise his most prized possession in exhibitions he put on in the UK and in New York.
This is a detective story. Two stories, in fact. The story of the bookseller and his picture--but also the story of the mysterious Spanish painter==of which not a lot is known about his personality. As I read this book I wondered if it could have been published in the United States. Not because it is an esoteric story but because the clues are so few and despite enormous research by the author--nothing is uncovered. The clues lead nowhere. Nothing new is learned about Velazquez but worse, the man without means (named Snare) and his painting are never tracked down. He and his picture disappear into the mists of time... so in effect, Cumming is describing a painting that she has not seen nor can she even uncover what became of it. No one is even sure if it is a Velazquez or not.
For me, herein was the great beauty of this book (and I am not alone since this was a great best seller and much discussed book!!). The fewer concrete clues she uncovered the more the author relied on her own intuitions about the artist. It is the most moving art book I have ever read. Art can save a person. Cumming was in mourning for her father and the way Las Meninas spoke to her during her period of sadness is unforgettable. In several places in the book, I got tears in my eyes I was so moved by her words and way of describing how art made her feel. I came to treasure this book and have re-read already three times!
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