A novel about the most important portrait painter of the 18th century
Elisabeth Vigée was just twelve years old in 1767 when the famous painter Claude Joseph Vernet discovered her talent. Within a very short time, little Liz became a celebrated portrait painter revered for her fresh, natural style. Soon Queen Marie Antoinette also belonged to her admirers and had herself painted several times. When the revolution broke out and Versailles was stormed, Vigée and her daughter fled to Italy. What is disguised as an art journey becomes a long-term exile. While she celebrates triumphs in the rest of Europe and in Russia, nothing remains as it was in her homeland.
Refined and witty, Renate Feyl tells the story of a fascinating woman and at the same time delivers a shimmering, lively, atmospherically impressive portrait of the time.
"Putting lights over bright ground is imaginative and briskly written and just as brisk to read." Nürnberger Zeitung
