THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS, by Dominic Smith, Picador 2016
THE LAST PAINTING OF SARA DE VOS is a beautiful play between light and shadow, past and present, mystery and discovery, and, most salient, authenticity and imitation. Dominic Smith crosses centuries and societies to artfully blend three narratives into the mystifying history of a Dutch masterpiece and its esoteric creator.
Inspiring is how Smith, through prose, infuses life into a visual medium. His readers envision the color saturations, smell the oils in the pigments, and trace the textures of the brushstrokes. This engenders an intimacy traditionally reserved for the characters, of which Smith does so with his cast just as beautifully.
Sarah de Vos is an enchanting female protagonist, graced with humility and artistic passion. When her sole known masterwork in transposed with a forgery in 1950s New York City, Manhattan lawyer Martin de Groot’s pursuit to reclaim this family heirloom induces him to chase his own artistic enchantress. The consequences of this diversion bind them both to the present and future fates of the masterwork.
Smith’s own artistic mastery is his meticulous, color-rich brushwork that fashions a beautiful story, in both the details and as an alluring composition.
The last lesson of Sarah de Vos is of authenticity, of art but more so of passion. The light of Dominic Smith’s passion for his art radiates from every page.