The Portrait Large Print
Language: English
Published by Large Print Press, 2005
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Library House Internet Sales, Grand Rapids, OH, U.S.A.Library House Internet Sales
AbeBooks seller since February 3, 2014
Condition: Used - Good
£ 3.85
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Why did artist Henry McAlpine forsake London to make his home on a remote outpost off the coast of Brittany? The truth begins to emerge when, four years into his exile, McAlpine receives his first visitor. Due to age and/or environmental conditions, the pages of this book have darkened. Former library book. Solid binding. Moderate edgewear on the boards. Moderate shelf wear. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item.
Seller Inventory # 123806258
- Title
- The Portrait Large Print
- Author
- Iain M. Pears, Iain Pears
- Publisher
- Large Print Press
- Publication year
- 2005
- Condition
- Good
- Dust jacket
- No Jacket
- Book Type
- Ex-Library
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0786278757
- ISBN 13
- 9780786278756
A dark and disturbing novel of suspense, set at the turn of the 20th century, by the bestselling author of An Instance of the Fingerpost
The windswept isle of Houat, off the coast of Brittany, is no picturesque artists' colony. At the turn of the twentieth century, life is harsh and rustic. So why did Henry MacAlpine forsake London – where he had been fêted by critics and gallery owners, his works exhibited alongside the likes of Cezanne and Van Gogh – to make his home in this remote outpost?
The truth begins to emerge when, four years into his exile, MacAlpine receives his first visitor. Influential art critic William Nasmyth has come to the island to sit for a portrait. Over the course of the sitting, the power balance between the two men shifts dramatically as the critic whose pen could anoint or destroy careers becomes a passive subject. And as the painter struggles to capture Nasmyth's true character on canvas, a story unfolds – one of betrayal, hypocrisy, forbidden love, suicide and ultimately murder.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
Set on the bleak and windy island of Houat near the coast of Brittany, The Portrait describes the retreat into isolation of the painter Henry MacAlpine, who has performed a Gauguin-like cutting off of his previous life, leaving a successful career in London (not to mention rich patrons and enthusiastic gallery owners) behind him for a more spartan existence in this unvisited spot. Several years pass, and the reclusive MacAlpine is called upon by the first person he has seen from his old life in four years. This is the art critic William Nasmyth, whose approbation (or otherwise) can make or destroy an artist's career. He has come, he says, to sit for a portrait. What follows is a remarkable battle of wills between two very driven individuals; a psychological duel that has echoes of the mordant writing in the early plays of Harold Pinter. The other analogy that springs to mind for Pears’ compelling and disturbing novel is the Ingmar Bergman film Persona, similarly set on a remote island, which also treats of a personality shift between two strong-willed individuals. During the course of the sitting, the real subject of the novel becomes clear through the conversation of the two men: this is a scarifying narrative of thwarted desire, cruelty, suicide and even murder. This spare and economical novel exerts a grip from the first paragraph, and its two main protagonists are drawn with assiduously observed detail. --Barry Forshaw
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Library House Internet Sales
Grand Rapids, OH, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since February 3, 2014
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| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 3 to 6 business days |
|---|---|---|
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Library House Books and Art
24164 Front St.
Grand Rapids, OH U.S.A. 43522
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