The Vanishing Man
In Pursuit of Velazquez
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The Vanishing Man
Narrated by:
Siobhan Redmond
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Siobhan Redmond
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By:
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Laura Cumming
About this listen
*BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week*
*Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2016*
"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
In 1845, a Reading bookseller named John Snare came across the dirt-blackened portrait of a prince at a country house auction. Suspecting that it might be a long-lost Velázquez, he bought the picture and set out to discover its strange history. When Laura Cumming stumbled on a startling trial involving John Snare, it sent her on a search of her own. At first she was pursuing the picture, and the life and work of the elusive painter, but then she found herself following the bookseller’s fortunes too – from London to Edinburgh to nineteenth-century New York, from fame to ruin and exile.
An innovative fusion of detection and biography, this book shows how and why great works of art can affect us, even to the point of mania. And on the trail of John Snare, Cumming makes a surprising discovery of her own. But most movingly, The Vanishing Man is an eloquent and passionate homage to the Spanish master Velázquez, bringing us closer to the creation and appreciation of his works than ever before.
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Critic reviews
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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. (Anna Godfrey)
Ingenious... intriguing... [Cumming] subtly interweaves the two narratives - that of Snare and that of Velázquez - so that they illuminate each other in surprising ways. (Mark Hudson)
Wonderfully weird story of a lost painting.
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Twists and turns
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I came away with a sense of the importance of Velasquez and his peerless art. The story of John Snare is fascinating too and the mystery at the heart of the book is compelling.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone unfamiliar with the art world. Laura Cumming has written a brilliant, accessible book.
Magnificent first art book
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The first thing to say is that there is nothing dry or "academic" about "The Vanishing Man." It is filled to overflowing with energy and conviction. Author, Laura Cumming, follows the life of John Snare, who in the nineteenth century bought a grubby painting for 8 pounds and then devoted his life to proving it had been painted by Velazquez, the Spanish genius. Not only that, but that it depicted King Charles 1 when he was just a Prince and courting the Spanish infanta in Madrid.
It is a story of gripping fascination as Laura Cumming and Snare follow every piece of "proof" there could possibly be. John Snare, obsessed, sacrifices his life and time to the portrait, becoming involved in court trials, bankruptcy, ridicule, fame and exile.. The picture brings him high, then low, at home, and takes him abroad to America...He never gives up on his conviction.
But the book is not only about Snare's obsession. It is also about Velazquez, that humane master painter, his way of painting, his life, and the delicate truth his images represent. There is nothing dry or scholarly about the book. It is full of a passionate love of painting, especially Velasquez's painting, and as such I found it a revelation.
The book if beautifully read in a spirited and lively way which makes you think that the reader must be the author; it flows so well.
So as a detective story about the enigmatic and driven John Snare, and as a pathway through some of the greatest paintings of the equally enigmatic Velazquez, this book is highly recommended. I learnt so much from it concerning obsession, Spanish history, avarice and the good and bad in human nature. And about the life and work of that possibly greatest of all painters, Velazquez, and even about Salvador Dali's moustache.
Now back to Las Meninas...
Six stars. Wondrous, and beautifully read.
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Have A Book of Velazquez Paintings To Hand
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