Laura Cumming Bücher

Florian Illies beschreibt die meisterhaft geschriebene literarische Biographie von Laura Cumming als eine essentielle Lektüre über Kunst und Vergangenheit. Velázquez, als der größte Maler aller Zeiten anerkannt, bleibt in seiner Biografie weitgehend unbekannt. Cumming enthüllt durch die Geschichte des viktorianischen Buchhändlers John Snare, seines leidenschaftlichsten Bewunderers, erstaunliche Details über den spanischen Meister. Snare erwirbt bei einer Auktion ein verstaubtes Porträt eines Prinzen und widmet sein Leben der Überzeugung, dass es sich um ein echtes Werk von Velázquez handelt. Besessen verfolgt er die Geheimnisse hinter der Herkunft des Gemäldes. Cumming verknüpft diese fesselnde Erzählung mit tiefgehenden Betrachtungen der Werke Velázquez und ermöglicht eine neue Entdeckung seines Schaffens. Illies hebt hervor, dass Cummings Schreibstil Kunst und Geschichte lebendig macht, sodass sie sich wie gegenwärtig anfühlen. Colm Tóibín bezeichnet das Werk als fesselnden Detektivroman und Hommage an Velázquez, während Julian Barnes anmerkt, dass der Text so fesselnd ist, dass die Bilder fast stören.

**WINNER OF THE WRITERS' PRIZE (NON-FICTION CATEGORY)** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2024** 'A wonderful read (or a great present) for anyone who loves stories and art' Nina Stibbe, author of Love, Nina A beautifully illustrated new memoir of a life in art, a father and daughter, and what a shared love of a painting can come to mean. 'We see with everything that we are' On the morning of 12 October 1654, a gunpowder explosion devastated the Dutch city of Delft. The thunderclap was heard over seventy miles away. Among the fatalities was the painter Carel Fabritius, dead at thirty-two, leaving only his haunting masterpiece The Goldfinch and barely a dozen known paintings. The explosion that killed him also buried his reputation, along with answers to the mysteries of his life and career. What happened to Fabritius before and after this disaster is just one of the discoveries in a book that explores the relationship between art and life, interweaving the lives of Laura Cumming, her Scottish painter father, who also died too young, and the great artists of the Dutch Golden Age. This is a book about what a picture may come to mean: how it can enter your life and change your thinking in a thunderclap. **A SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY EXPRESS AND GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023** 'Brilliant ... rush out and buy it' Edmund de Waal, bestselling author of The Hare with Amber Eyes

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD** Uncovering the mystery of her mother's disappearance as a child: Laura Cumming, prize-winning author and art critic, takes a closer look at her family story. 'A modern masterpiece' Guardian Autumn 1929 - a young girl is kidnapped from a beach. Five agonising days go by before she is discovered safe and well in a nearby village. The child remembers nothing of these events and at home, nobody ever speaks of them again. Decades later, Laura Cumming delves into the mystery surrounding her mother's disappearance. Examining everything from old family photos to letters, tickets and recipes, she uncovers a series of secrets and lies perpetuated not just by her family but by the whole community and in doing so unlocks a mystery almost a century old. 'A moving, many-sided human story of great depth and tenderness, and a revelation of how art enriches life' Sunday Times Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize Longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize