Thomas Van Essen

A portrait by the great 19th century English painter J.M.W. Turner has been discovered hidden in a barn at a cottage on Saranac Lake. It is a portrait depicting Helen of Troy in a manner that overwhelms the viewer with the power of her beauty and the compelling nature of her sexuality. The painting is stunning to Henry Leiden who has found it. We find out that Turner, known for his land and sea scapes and his rendering of light, has used as his model for Helen Mrs. Spencer, the mistress of the massively rich Lord Egremont, and young Charles Grant as her lover Paris. Turner and Grant are Egremont's house guests at Petworth, his estate in Sussex.

This cleverly plotted novel shifts between the 1830's at Petworth, where the characters are involved in creating the painting, and the lives of Henry and wife Susan in the Adirondacks and their home in Princeton, New Jersey on 2003. Leiden's professional and personal life in his middle age is unsatisfying to him. His work at a foundation is humdrum and his marriage is failing. He is utterly transfixed by the painting and it lifts him to a plane of inspiration and yearning he has never imagined. But it isolates him further from his normal life. He does not reveal the painting to his wife and she reacts to his increasing distance as if he's having an affair, which in a sense he is.

A art dealer of highly questionable professional ethics hears hints of the discovery of the painting, a work he has for years vaguely suspected existed. He dispatches his assistant, Gina, on a search to confirm who has it and she discovers through historical research and detective work that it is in possession of Leiden. This portion of the story is suspenseful as Gina comes closer to discovering that the painting really exists and where it might be.

These three threads (and a fourth about how the painting came to be hidden in an Adirondack camp outbuilding) are weaved throughout the book in a suspenseful and convincing manner. The astounding impact of the portrayal of Helen through Turner's art is revealed through the reactions of all who have seen it. It was never meant by Turner and his patron and subjects to be seen publicly as its depiction of the power of beauty, love, sexuality and the influence of the gods over men are too powerful to behold. For all the characters in the book who see the painting, their lives are profoundly, if not always happily, changed.

Why use Turner as the artist for this mythical painting? He is not known as a portrait artist nor so much for his depiction of classical scenes. I think it's because of his phenomenal treatment of light. His paintings dazzle with lights of yellow and orange that capture the viewer and draw him into the drama and intent of the painting. It was the light bursting from Helen that so deeply affected the other viewers mesmerizing them to a degree of great intensity and personal meaning. The author's choice of Turner with his vivid and compelling use of light that makes the aspirations, dreams and desires of the viewers surface so achingly.

The ending, not revealed in this review, is well-conceived and in keeping with the immortal sense of the painting in its place in the art world.… (altro)

I do love a good novel about art and artists, and this one doesn't disappoint. It centers around a mysterious, marvelous painting by J.M.W. Turner, moves back and forth between the present and 1865, and involves a host of characters -- some fictitious, some not. It's a lot of fun, and also a bit deeper than it lets on until the end, which was a good surprise. Good summer reading! (Whatever that means...)

Stay tuned for a more detailed piece on the book and its author in Bloom and The Millions in a couple of weeks.… (altro)