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Girl In Hyacinth Blue

by Susan Vreeland (Goodreads Author)

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 17,943 ratings · 1,058 reviews

There are only 35 known Vermeers extant in the world today. In Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland posits the existence of a 36th. The story begins at a private boys' academy in Pennsylvania where, in the wake of a faculty member's unexpected death, math teacher Cornelius Engelbrecht makes a surprising revelation to one of his colleagues. He has, he claims, an authentic...more There are only 35 known Vermeers extant in the world today. In Girl in Hyacinth Blue, Susan Vreeland posits the existence of a 36th. The story begins at a private boys' academy in Pennsylvania where, in the wake of a faculty member's unexpected death, math teacher Cornelius Engelbrecht makes a surprising revelation to one of his colleagues. He has, he claims, an authentic Vermeer painting, "a most extraordinary painting in which a young girl wearing a short blue smock over a rust-colored skirt sat in profile at a table by an open window." His colleague, an art teacher, is skeptical and though the technique and subject matter are persuasively Vermeer-like, Engelbrecht can offer no hard evidence--no appraisal, no papers--to support his claim. He says only that his father, "who always had a quick eye for fine art, picked it up, let us say, at an advantageous moment." Eventually it is revealed that Engelbrecht's father was a Nazi in charge of rounding up Dutch Jews for deportation and that the picture was looted from one doomed family's home:

That's when I saw that painting, behind his head. All blues and yellows and reddish brown, as translucent as lacquer. It had to be a Dutch master. Just then a private found a little kid covered with tablecloths behind some dishes in a sideboard cabinet. We'd almost missed him.

By the end of "Love Enough," this first of eight interrelated stories tracing the history of "Girl in Hyacinth Blue," the painting's fate at the hands of guilt-riddled Engelbrecht fils is in question. Unfortunately, there is no doubt about the probable destiny of the previous owners, the Vredenburg family of Rotterdam, who take center stage in the powerful "A Night Different From All Other Nights." Vreeland handles this tale with subtlety and restraint, setting it at Passover, the year before the looting, and choosing to focus on the adolescent Hannah Vredenburg's difficult passage into adulthood in the face of an uncertain future. In the next story, "Adagia," she moves even further into the past to sketch "how love builds itself unconsciously ... out of the momentous ordinary" in a tender portrait of a longtime marriage. Back and back Vreeland goes, back through other owners, other histories, to the very inception of the painting in the homely, everyday objects of the Vermeer household--a daughter's glass of milk, a son's shirt in need of buttons, a wife's beloved sewing basket--"the unacknowledged acts of women to hallow home." Girl in Hyacinth Blue ends with the painting's subject herself, Vermeer's daughter Magdalena, who first sends the portrait out into the world as payment for a family debt, then sees it again, years later at an auction.

She thought of all the people in all the paintings she had seen that day, not just Father's, in all the paintings of the world, in fact. Their eyes, the particular turn of a head, their loneliness or suffering or grief was borrowed by an artist to be seen by other people throughout the years who would never see them face to face. People who would be that close to her, she thought, a matter of a few arms' lengths, looking, looking, and they would never know her.

In this final passage, Susan Vreeland might be describing her own masterpiece as well as Vermeer's. --Alix Wilber(less)

Paperback, 180 pages

Published 2000 by Review (Headline Book Publishing) (first published 1999)

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Jun 24, 2012 Hayes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Brazilliant Laura is next

Shelves: tbr-challenge-2012, read-in-2012

I liked this gentle story very much. We follow an imaginary painting back in time. We first see it hanging on the wall in a Math teacher’s house. The teacher is enigmatic and strange, and his story reveals the shady nature of the "acquisition" of this painting by his father in Amsterdam. And we don’t know: is it, or is it not by the Master Jan Vermeer?

We are taken slowly back in time, until we arrive at the moment that the painting was created, first in the mind of the artist and then on canvas...more

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Aug 17, 2012 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: vermeer

Great read! Vreeland writes several short stories of a lost Vermeer painting and the people whose lives it touched. The stories are told from the present to long ago, back in time. This lost painting is a portrait of a young woman looking out a window, lost in thought, brilliantly clothed in hyacinth blues. The stories contain exquisite visual descriptions of his artwork and the everyday lives of ordinary women. I loved how Vreeland described color and how his paintings contained the "dust of cr...more

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Aug 05, 2007 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Girl in Hyacinth Blue tells the story of a painting by the Dutch painter Vermeer, as it passes from one owner to another. Interestingly, the story is told in reverse chronological order, beginning with the math teacher who, at present time, hides the painting in his home, to the girl in the painting and her wishes to become an artist herself. I thought the book kept getting better and better as it travels back in history to reveal the effects the painting had on each owner. They all find some co...more

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Jul 16, 2010 Nenia Campbell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: x-1990s

a collection of short stories revolving the hypothetical existence of a Vermeer painting. starting from the present day and working back through time itself until you get to the story told from the vantage point of vermeer's very own daughter, each short story manages to both stand alone and build off the previous story in a series of question and answer arcs that allow you to really see just how much a work of art can affect someone's life.

i also really appreciated the rich tapestry of historic...more

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Jul 17, 2008 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, four-star-fiction, europe-and-british-isles, all-fiction

I like the way this author writes. This is one of those books where an object is the main character, rather than a person. In this case, the object is a (fictional) Vermeer painting of a girl sitting and looking out the window with her sewing in her lap.
There are eight interconnected stories that follow the painting back through history to its various owners and how they came to own or sell the painting. Eventually it works back to Vermeer's creation of the painting.
My only complaint is that I...more

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May 18, 2008 Winna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 27, 2012 Jeannette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jeannette by: Hayes

Shelves: adult-fiction, art-books, historical-fiction, 2012-read

An interesting collection of short stories that, together, tell the story of a painting (possibly by Vermeer) known as Girl in Hyacinth Blue. The story is told through a series of companion pieces that give the reader glimpses into the history of the painting, from present day, back to its beginning in the 1670s. Most of the stories are tinged with sadness and longing; the girl in the painting representing something lost or something unattainable. Each story also stands on its own, but it’s the...more

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Jan 09, 2008 Rachael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book. I've owned it for seven or eight years now, and I reread it every six months or so. It's a beautifully written series of brief chapter-sized vignettes recounting the history of a Vermeer painting, as told (in reverse chronological order) by all the people who have possessed the painting. The final stor(ies) are told by the painting's model, Vermeer's daughter. Each chapter also deals with the decision of each character to give up the painting for various reasons.

Coup...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this novel after reading "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and was a little disappointed.

The story begins with math professor, Cornelius Engelbrecht. He was bequeathed a painting from his father, who claims it a masterpiece by the Dutch artist Vermeer. There are no papers to prove this statement; however, the bigger picture is the way Cornelius's father obtained the painting...a way that has haunted him all his life.

Each chapter moves back in time to the previous owner of the painting. Readers...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Christine Rebbert rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wonderful book... The story of a {imagined) painting by Jan Vermeer, in reverse chronological order from its (presumably) last owner back to Vermeer himself and his daughter, the inspiration for the work. Really heartbreaking in parts; not too many books have moved me to tears, but several of these interwoven short stories had me sniffling. I only just recently had (finally) seen the movie adaptation of "Girl with a Pearl Earring", and may not have "felt" the book so strongly had I not done so,...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Vibina Venugopal rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Prior to reading this one,I read Girl with a pearl earring ...Unlike girl with a pearl earring that deals with the artist Vermeer his life and work ., this about the people who own the painting....With every change of wall where it is hung the painting goes through different mood and set of life, yet one common mood that follows is that of longing and melancholy...The painting portrays a girl wearing brilliant hyacynth blue dress looking out of the window with longing and dreams..The book has we...more Prior to reading this one,I read Girl with a pearl earring ...Unlike girl with a pearl earring that deals with the artist Vermeer his life and work ., this about the people who own the painting....With every change of wall where it is hung the painting goes through different mood and set of life, yet one common mood that follows is that of longing and melancholy...The painting portrays a girl wearing brilliant hyacynth blue dress looking out of the window with longing and dreams..The book has weaved together through threads of short stories., that depicts each owner dating in a chronological order from 1995., that is when the painting is burnt to 1665 that takes us back to Vermeer's studio...Cornelius Englebrecht is a math teacher who has a haunting past attached with the painting... His father looted the painting from Vredengurg family in Amsterdam during the Nazi era, Englebrecht is proud of his possession yet he isn't honoured enough to display it in public, yet one day he shows off it to his colleague an art professor., who is instantly appreciative about the strokes and painting with awe confirming its ingenuity , yet Englebrecht ends up burning the paining to relive himself from its burden...The book slowly starts to unfold Dutch history through each story as the painting journeys to a place..The painting is given as a token of love to some at times offered as a bribe ,few more stolen by the force of greed, it holds different meaning ...Magdelena is the model and Vermeer's daughter..The novel also explores Vermeer's life....Vermeer was always lost in his painting living in a totally different world away from his family, being away from a father and the longing for his love is transcended in the painting as well through her face, later after Vermeer's death she sells it to the local baker...The chapters are written in a combination of first and third person account.. Chapter "Magdelena looking" appealed to me most, but few chapters just fell flat..The painting is a treasured possession to some and for few its just another painting...Aunt Rika wraps the painting on her illegitimate child as a bribe to her nephew Adriaan carrying a message sell the painting feed the baby in order to sustain her honour in the society..Initially sold for 300 gilder the painting is sold low even for 24 gilder, Vreeland hints upon the ignorance and appreciation of art through these and also the fact that at times in spite of the attachment people are forced to part away with it during terrible times....Each owner gets the painting to fill in with something that person has been missing so far and that ranges from lost love, child and so on...Though I loved girl with a pearl earring more , I should not forget that both fall in a different plane all together....Vreeland has richly filled in with historic aspect of past lives of common people...The book is for all who love fiction in terms of art and artists...(less)

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Sep 06, 2012 Arwen56 rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi

Un libro interessante “La ragazza in blu” di Susan Vreeland, sebbene non del tutto riuscito. Mi spiego meglio.

Il filo conduttore è un quadro di Vermeer, che in realtà l’artista non ha mai dipinto. Questo quadro passa di mano in mano, poiché, per motivi diversi, sorge la necessità di venderlo, regalarlo o, comunque, cederlo. La prima, pregevole particolarità del romanzo è dunque che è possibile leggerlo sia dall’inizio alla fine, sia dalla fine all’inizio. In pratica, un “romanzo palindromo”, se...more Un libro interessante “La ragazza in blu” di Susan Vreeland, sebbene non del tutto riuscito. Mi spiego meglio.

Il filo conduttore è un quadro di Vermeer, che in realtà l’artista non ha mai dipinto. Questo quadro passa di mano in mano, poiché, per motivi diversi, sorge la necessità di venderlo, regalarlo o, comunque, cederlo. La prima, pregevole particolarità del romanzo è dunque che è possibile leggerlo sia dall’inizio alla fine, sia dalla fine all’inizio. In pratica, un “romanzo palindromo”, se così possiamo definirlo.

Questo espediente letterario dà l’agio all’autrice di sviluppare una serie di racconti che riguardano i successivi (o precedenti, dipende dall’ordine in cui lo si legge) possessori del dipinto, che, benché vivano in epoche tra loro diverse, sono comunque affascinati dalla ragazza ritratta. Sebbene “La ragazza in blu” sia, ovviamente, muta, parla a ciascuno di loro in modo diverso, richiamando alla mente immagini o emozioni diverse.

E’ il ricordo del primo amore per Laurens, che, incautamente, lo rivela alla moglie. Nonostante li leghi un solido affetto, lei non è in grado di comprendere la delicatezza di questo effimero legame che lui ha voluto mantenere vivo e che, in fondo, ha forse più a che fare con il rimpianto della giovinezza in sé che non con l’antico oggetto del desiderio, soprattutto se si considera che la loro unica figlia sta per sposarsi e allontanarsi di casa, ponendo fine a un’ulteriore fase della vita.

E’ il “senso del bello” per Saksia, che suo marito, pur non essendo del tutto gretto, non riesce a comprendere. Saksia non aspira ad essere ciò che non è, ovvero un’umile contadina, è assolutamente conscia di dover privilegiare gli aspetti pratici e perfettamente consapevole dei limiti in cui vive. Tuttavia l’armonia e la pace del quadro le rammentano, sia pur confusamente, che esistono anche altri piaceri, del tutto mentali, che contribuiscono a far crescere e a migliorare e che non si possono sempre mettere a tacere in nome della razionalità.

E’ un’ossessione e un pesante senso di colpa per Cornelius, che, pur amando immensamente il dipinto, giunge a pensare di bruciarlo, poiché sa che suo padre, durante il nazismo, lo ha rubato ad una famiglia ebrea deportata.

E così via, per tutti i racconti. Questo quadro inesistente è la chiave per far riaffiorare sentimenti talvolta mai considerati dai protagonisti delle diverse storie e solo ora messi a fuoco. Ma vi serpeggia anche, a mio modesto avviso, la convinzione che sia fondamentalmente impossibile comunicare il proprio sé agli altri, anche nelle condizioni più favorevoli. Restiamo fondamentalmente “isole”, nonostante la voglia o l’impegno che si impiega per entrare in contatto con gli altri. Le sole parole restano, sia pur involontariamente, strumenti infidi, in un certo senso. La luminosa bellezza del quadro ci ricorda che sarebbe bene affidarsi a tutti i nostri sensi per avere migliori chance di farci capire.

L’ho letto con piacere, questo romanzo. Ma mi restano delle perplessità, come dicevo all’inizio. In alcuni punti, mi pare “forzato” e non del tutto sentito. Piace, ma non conquista. Cade, a mio parere, la Vreeland nella stessa trappola da cui vuole metterci in guardia: l’incapacità del saper efficacemente esprimere.
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May 26, 2012 Melissa Etheridge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A painting of a young woman wearing a light blue gown gazing out of a window is the main character in this lovely novel. Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a historical fiction novel that begins in the present then weaves its way back in time.

The story begins with the current owner of the painting wishing to rid himself of it because of the way that his father obtained the painting. He believes that he can rid himself of the guilt that he associates with the painting by burning it. From there the reader...more

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May 10, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

MY TAKE: ** Love enough ** My soul shuddered **
Some of the stories were difficult to get into or stay interested in, but the whole collection together is quite beautiful. I enjoyed the timeline and the build and progression (or rather, regression)of the painting, and the different meaning that it had for so many people. This novel was lyrically written, with a smooth continuous flow, and each story touching in its own way. It is interesting to think about how “things outlive people.” Art affects...more MY TAKE: ** Love enough ** My soul shuddered **
Some of the stories were difficult to get into or stay interested in, but the whole collection together is quite beautiful. I enjoyed the timeline and the build and progression (or rather, regression)of the painting, and the different meaning that it had for so many people. This novel was lyrically written, with a smooth continuous flow, and each story touching in its own way. It is interesting to think about how “things outlive people.” Art affects us all differently, but I like to believe that it draws an emotion from you, whether it provides hope, or sparks your imagination, or is a dream. It isn’t just a picture, but can tell a lot about a person in what they choose to display in their home. This single painting had so many different meanings – the loss of innocence about his father, a moral dilemma of theft and ownership, evidence of the crimes of the Holocaust and the forced eviction of Jews, inspiration toward a loving selfless act of resistance, remembrance of lost love, a father’s pain of releasing his daughter to her new husband, a marital peace offering from a philandering husband, the ache of being barren, a lure for seduction, a means of support for an abandoned baby, a source of conflict for a couple about what is important in life, evidence of spirits and witches, material gain from participation in the slave trade, a payment of debt, a means to gain parental love and attention, a remembrance of things past.

QUOTES:
Of the unpredictableness of one’s end, and what remains unpardoned. ** In the end, its only the moments that we have, the kiss on the palm, the joint wonder at the furrowed texture of a fir trunk or at the infinitude of grains of sand in a dune. Only the moments. ** There’s got to be some beauty too. ** Work is love made plain. ** It would be a pity if it scarred, but few there are who go through life unmarked. ** With her I was in another world, drawn into her being. ** I had fancied love a casual adjunct and not the central turning shaft making all parts move. I had not stood astonished before the power of its turning. ** It makes the whole corner sacred with the tenderness of just living. ** … she heard the creak and thrum of the south windmill turning like her heart in the sea wind … ** Wishes had the power to knock the breath out of her.

NEW YORK TIMES – GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE Susan Vreeland's second novel, "Girl in Hyacinth Blue," may be a book about a painting, but it is never content with surfaces. Tracing the influence of one extraordinary picture on a succession of human lives, it touches gently yet thoughtfully on such weighty topics as the immortality of a great artwork and the ways in which art can be used for various ends. In the course of her explorations, Vreeland covers a lot of time and space: "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" begins in present-day America and ends in the 17th century Netherlands, scrolling backward as each chapter accounts for the painting's role in the life of one of its owners. Among other things, Vreeland has given us an art detective story, since the early chapters suggest that this marvelous painting--a portrait of a young girl whose face seems to be filled with dreams and longings--may be a lost Vermeer. When we first encounter it, the picture is hidden from view, its possession the dark secret of a lonely mathematician whose father looted it from a Dutch Jewish family that he then sent to die in a concentration camp. Horrified by his father's crimes, he worships the painting with obsessional fervor, fearing that if anyone sees it, the secret of its provenance will come to light. But, as is the way with such things, he also feels compelled to show off his trophy. The chapter that displays the mathematician's solitary, guilt-filled pleasure is followed by another that provides a lively view of the close-knit Jewish family from whom the painting was stolen--and particularly of the young daughter who identifies with its subject, a girl just about her own age. This sequence establishes the pattern for the book's structure: each chapter stands on its own, a marvel of economy, yet also builds on the knowledge the reader has already gained. Vreeland is especially good at conveying the tensions that arise among her characters but go largely unspoken. She is also adept at capturing the differing sensibilities of various historical periods, working unobtrusively and successfully avoiding a contrived "period" feel. In the process, she provides her own nicely sketched gallery of portraits: a frivolous Frenchwoman marooned in a loveless marriage in the 19th-century Netherlands; an 18th-century farmer's wife hungering for beauty in the midst of the flat Dutch countryside; and an Enlightenment scientist who embarks on an affair with a superstitious serving girl. In all these episodes, the painting is pivotal, both in a practical and a spiritual sense. The aristocratic Frenchwoman hates all things Dutch except the girl in the painting because she recognizes in her a sense of hope that she herself has lost. The farmer's wife loves the same girl because she symbolizes a serene loveliness that is unattainable for people who labor in the fields. In the end, each woman is forced to sell the painting so that each, in her own very different way, can survive. But for each of them, the possession of "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" leads to profound changes. This conflict of the spiritual and the practical comes to dominate the final chapters of the novel in which the exigencies of the painter's life are movingly brought to the fore. Like many of its predecessors, the penultimate chapter is filled with a sense of tenderness, of gratitude for the gift of life--a mood that doesn't cloy because it is accompanied by a clear evocation of the daily stresses of loving and living. But the crowning chapter is the final one, which introduces the girl in the picture and provides a glimpse of what is actually going on behind those dreamy eyes. Throughout "Girl in Hyacinth Blue," Vreeland strikes a pleasant balance between the timeless world of the painting as a work of art and the finite worlds of its possessors and admirers--not to mention the world of its subject and its creator. Intelligent, searching and unusual, the novel is filled with luminous moments; like the painting it describes so well, it has a way of lingering in the reader's mind.
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Jul 28, 2011 Adriane Devries rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: book-clubbish-novels

The book we read last month for book club was The Girl in Hyacinth Blue, by Susan Vreeland. It was a well-written, thought provoking and inspiring book, but to tell you the truth, I probably would not have finished it if it weren’t for the fact that I was in a book club that keeps me accountable. It’s the perfect example of why I’m in this book club in the first place: to keep me reading things that challenge me a bit, rather than always the easy, thrilling Dan Brown or JK Rowling types.

I liked...more The book we read last month for book club was The Girl in Hyacinth Blue, by Susan Vreeland. It was a well-written, thought provoking and inspiring book, but to tell you the truth, I probably would not have finished it if it weren’t for the fact that I was in a book club that keeps me accountable. It’s the perfect example of why I’m in this book club in the first place: to keep me reading things that challenge me a bit, rather than always the easy, thrilling Dan Brown or JK Rowling types.

I liked Girl in Hyacinth Blue, not only because it portrays the impact of a single piece of forgotten art in the lives of dramatically different people over several centures; but also for its treatment of the figure in the painting itself: the “girl in hyacinth blue” was the daughter of the Dutch painter Vermeer, and she wondered what people would feel when they looked on her father’s painting, reflecting to herself that “they will never know me.” You can hear her struggling with the question of her worth as a woman, a mere daughter of a then-struggling artist who never himself had time to notice his daughter, except when he studied her academically for her portrait.

I feel affinity for this girl because the very element that drew admiration and other passionate feelings for the painting was her expression of deep longing. This longing is a recurring theme in my own art and writing, as it is in so much of the art that is already out there. My question, like hers, and like Vermeer’s no doubt was, has always been, Does the world need another painting? Another novel? Another voice like mine? Might someone out there be moved by my outpouring of my own unfinished heart?

Vreeland’s novel attempts to prove that life would be unlivable without the inspiration and beauty of art. And as not everyone appreciates even a Vermeer painting, its worth centuries later is undeniable; so also each work of art, each individual life like mine, has a purpose that will impact generations to come, even if “they will never know me.”
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Aug 28, 2010 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lovers of Art History

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: historical-fiction, literary-fiction, short-stories, ultimate-reading-list, fiction, novels

This novel consists of 8 short stories, some first person and others third person, concerning a Vermeer painting and its owners from present day working back to when the work was created. The painting has a different meaning for each story's protagonist.

The stories range through centuries of Dutch history
You could see the stories as paired. "Love Enough" and "A Night Different From All Other Nights" deal with the Holocaust. "Adagia" and "Hyacinth Blue" are the least connected--both are set in th...more

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Jul 16, 2010 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

Girl in Hyacinth Blue traces the history of a Vermeer painting as it passes from one owner to another. The book is told in reverse chronological order, beginning in present time with a math teacher, who was bequeathed the painting from his father, hiding it in a closed off study in his house, and ending with the story of the girl who was the subject of the painting and what she is really thinking while being painted.

This book wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I expected one long story but it...more

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Mar 05, 2010 Mimi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It amazes me that after hundreds of years, Vermeer's art is so inspirational that 2 wonderful pieces of fiction about his paintings were published the same year (1999) ! After thoroughly enjoying GIRL WITH a PEARL EARRING (Tracy Chevalier), I was intrigued by this book by Ms. Vreeland.

Despite their major similarities, the general plot idea and structure was quite different and unique. While Ms. Chevalier's novel dealt with the life story of Greit, the fictional subject of Girl with a Pearl Earri...more

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Jul 15, 2009 Sun rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookaweek2009

This is one of the better novels inspired by the paintings of Vermeer. I say that because I've recently read 4 of them:

Tracey Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring was undoubtedly the best of them, with a solid plotline, populated by recognisable characters and was sophisticated enough to involve thematic imagery.

This is followed by Susan Vreeland's Girl in Hyacinth Blue. The writing is good in this but the book is not so much a novel but a series of short stories that are linked by one Vermeer...more

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May 15, 2012 Trudy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Starting with the dilemma of the professor who owned a rare Vermeer painting...but kept it hidden away because he could not come to terms to how his family acquired it...Vreeland works backward through the painting's provenance, tracing its ownership all the way back to the painter and his subject.

The stories of each of the painting's owners were interesting, but the backward progression felt a bit confusing at times. Vreeland never came back to her original premise..the professor's struggle to...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Catherine Shattuck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this up on a friend's recommendation and, though I'm not sure why, was convinced I wouldn't like it. Yet I found myself picking it up again and again, thinking about it when I wasn't reading it, and I finished it in two days (it's short, so that helped, too).

The story essentially traces a Vermeer painting from now all the way backwards to when it was painted, and uses its journey to illuminate a wide variety of characters and their inner workings, from a guilt-ridden, prideful professo...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Nancy (NE) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: period-pieces

I am not sure where to rate this. It would probably be closer to a 3 star. However, I whipped through it in a couple days, unusual for me. I very much enjoyed the atmospheric nature of the writing. Vreeland does a lovely job intertwining history and location into her narratives without overwhelming the reader. Each chapter is a backwards chronology of the various owners of a painting. Each layer gives a very different part of class and culture. The characterizations and voices are quite varied,...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Sophie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-books, favorites

This book is an amazing achievement. Centered around one Vermeer painting, the book retraces the lives the painting touched--from modern day to its creation--and takes the reader on a remarkable journey, painting a perfect picture of each moment in time. I was particularly struck by the level of detail the author incorporates into each story. The amount of research Ms. Vreeland must have done to create this book is awe-inspiring, and yet it never feels like she was merely reciting facts or inclu...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The book is written in the style of the movie "The Red Violin" and Geraldine Brooks' "People of the Book" which follows an object down through the ages.

While Cornelius is mesmerized by the Vermeer painting, he feels guilty on how the painting was acquired by his father who was a Nazi officer in the Netherlands and thus stole the painting from a rich Jewish family.

In his old age, he confesses the crime to Richard in the hope of acquitting his father's crime and thus save the painting from destru...more The book is written in the style of the movie "The Red Violin" and Geraldine Brooks' "People of the Book" which follows an object down through the ages.

While Cornelius is mesmerized by the Vermeer painting, he feels guilty on how the painting was acquired by his father who was a Nazi officer in the Netherlands and thus stole the painting from a rich Jewish family.

In his old age, he confesses the crime to Richard in the hope of acquitting his father's crime and thus save the painting from destruction.

Hannah was happy when her father bought the Vermeer @ an auction for German Jewish refugees. The painting resonates with her because she sees herself in it. Like the girl in the painting, Hannah is a shy thinker-type who knows that she wants a lot out of her life but does not know yet what that is. The German occupation represent hopelessness thus she decides to kill her father's pigeons.

I enjoyed Adagia the most. Laurens is worried that his daughter is too blind-sided with love not to be aware of the complex responsibilities that comes with it. Laurens made the mistake of telling his wife that the Vermeer painting that he was attached to reminded him of a former lover. To him, the Vermeer painting represents the feeling of wild abandon of 1st love. Unfortunately for him, he played coy and made the girl wait for him and thus lost a chance to be with her. Whether or not he was still in love with her or just wanted the feeling of 1st love is the question the story asks? He decides to sublimate his feelings for young love towards his present wife whom he loves too. In my this is where he makes the mistake why bring up the past if it has no bearing on the present?

Claudine cannot have children; thus the Vermeer painting represents the child she is unable to have. To her, the painting represents innocence incarnate in that the girl in the painting would pursue her lover in an all-encompassing manner. Giving her up without the title of ownership would make her illegitimate much to Claudine's chagrin. Claudine tried to force love on an arrange marriage which failed to produce any feeling on both parties involved. So, she decided to have a one-night stand with a famous violinist who moved her with his music. The fact that she got caught and did not care about the repercussions of such an illicit affair meant her marriage was a farce. Her dalliance with the violinist was the catalyst for freedom from pretending that she had a meaningful marriage with Gerard.

A baby was left by a mother with the Vermeer painting. Saskia was happy when providence gave her charge of the baby. Although Stijn wanted Saskia to sell the Vermeer, she initially refused because the painting is the only beautiful thing that she would own. Saskia believes that the girl in the painting is the babies mother and thus is reluctant to sell it. She connects with girl in the painting. Whereas Saskia is filled with hopeand wants beauty in her life, Stijn is ruled by fear of providing for the family's well-being especially after a devastating flood destroyed their crops. Like investors of today, Stijn defines his self worth based on his investments on potato seeds. According to Saskia's mother, work is love made plain. In the end Saskia sold the painting to someone who appreciates it as much as she does. It seems to me that being a farmer is really risky business because one cannot predict natural disasters that can wipe out entire crops and thus ones livelihood.

Adriaan wants to transform theoretical science into something applicable to daily life. Vermeer painting stands in stark contrast to the wild and crazy life of the very superstitious Aletta. Adriaan succumbs to Aletta's sexuality and having sex with her she concludes that they are married. Aletta's superstition of the bad luck of twins made her kill her daughter in favor of her son. As capital punishment, Aletta was hanged by the town's council. Adriaan took his son and Vermeer painting to Saskia's home where he saw a happy family that would take care of his son. Adriaan poses a great question that can science prevent the destruction wrought by climate change or is it too late for that and the only way to salvation is through conservation?

Jan Vermeer is conflicted b/w providing for his huge family or use his talents to create great paintings. For Vermeer, painting is a kind of contemplation into the essential truths of life. While he paints, he forgets his mounting debts and mundane responsibilities of familial life and gets transported into the peace and quiet that he seeks. He is trying to way his real talent at painting with the cost it has in terms of time away from his family as well as financing for their future. He also has a crazy brother-in-law who beats his wife and caused her to miscarriage. His final painting he gets from an inspiration from his daughter, Magdalena, who his father does not understand but describes as someone who has flights of fancy, insatiable passion, and active inner life. Vermeer tries to understand his enigmatic daughter through painting her.

Magdalena for her part is a girl who is bogged down by daily chores but wants to explore the world and all it has to offer. She also wants her father's attention but most of all she yearns for her father's skill as a painter. Even though her father does not want to teach her because he thinks it is unrealistic for a girl to paint, she still wants to do it (thank God for the women's lib movt). When Vermeer decides to paint her, her initial thrill at being her father's subject gives way to a feeling that she is being objectified instead by her father's concentration on his craft.

As an adult, she goes to an auction of her father's paintings and realizes the awe of youthful possibilities that she use to possess but was never actualized due to her being a woman. Although she was happy that the painting of her sold at a good price, she was saddened by the fact that people throughout the ages would see her face without knowing who she was as a person and thus the essence of the painting itself. (less)

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Aug 06, 2012 Mia Tat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

An interesting story idea, in which a painting's provenance is told backwards as it is traced through all of its owners, back to the subject and the artist. It functionally becomes a series of linked short stories, with every story having the painting as a common focal point.

This is similar to Tracy Chevalier's work, and frankly, I think Chevalier does it better, but this still kept my interest, and I would recommend it. Some of the stories end up being more engaging than others, and many of th...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Melissa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This collection of short stories begins with the reclusive owner of a beautiful painting, which he believes to be a Vermeer. The seven that follow trace the ownership of the painting back through decades. Some touch on the Holocaust, other delve into Dutch history, all the stories are connected by the common thread of the painting and the effect it has on each of its owners.

There are love stories, tales of poor farmers and rich aristocrats, and even one featuring Vermeer himself. I was expectin...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, historical-fiction, reviewed, artsy-fartsy

I got this book from my library's last used book sale for $.50 (hey, when did they get rid of the cent symbol from keyboards?). I had never heard of the book or the author but I figured I love historical fiction and I love books about art so this was probably a winner. And turns out, I was right. I really enjoyed this and will be checking out other books written by Susan Vreeland. I googled the book after I finished it and it turns out there was a movie made of it back in the day starring Glenn...more I got this book from my library's last used book sale for $.50 (hey, when did they get rid of the cent symbol from keyboards?). I had never heard of the book or the author but I figured I love historical fiction and I love books about art so this was probably a winner. And turns out, I was right. I really enjoyed this and will be checking out other books written by Susan Vreeland. I googled the book after I finished it and it turns out there was a movie made of it back in the day starring Glenn Close called "Brush with Fate." So I also need to check and see if Netflix has that because I was thinking while reading that this would make a really cool movie.

The book is about a [fictional] Vermeer painting and its journey through time (from its manifestation as oil paint on canvas to the home of its current possessor) and the hands it passed through and affected along the way. It starts from present time and goes back, with each chapter seen through the perspective of each of its owners, all the way back to the painting's subject, a young girl who gazes longingly out a window. Vreeland is wonderful with her descriptions, especially those of the actual painting and how the light reflects off of different pieces in the work. Vermeer was known for his masterful techniques and talent for painting light and the imagined painting absolutely comes to life the further you read. It makes you want to immediately go to a museum and study Vermeer's brushstrokes and imagine the life that he and his subjects lived. It's always amazed me (and is part of the reason I love art so much) how differently each person can interpret a piece of art and how diverse people's reasons for loving or hating it can be. This book explores that and gives glimpses of each person's reaction to the painting.

The book apparently began as a couple of interconnected short stories that Vreeland had previously written and published, but the novel doesn't read like a collection of short stories. They're unified and flow well and she does a wonderful job of pulling the chapters together and fleshing out all of the characters. A very enjoyable read indeed. It would be interesting to reread it from back to front cover so that the events are in chronological order. I highly recommend for those who enjoyed Girl with a Pearl Earring.
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Mar 08, 2013 Janneke rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: boeiend, gelezen-in-2013, historische-fictie, vertaling, geleend

In dit boek wordt een schilderij gevolgd terug in de geschiedenis. Het begint met een docent kunstgeschiedenis die door een collega gevraagd wordt naar een schilderij te komen kijken. Hij is onder de indruk: het lijkt een echte Vermeer te zijn. Of is het een De Hoogh? Maar hoe is het schilderij in het bezit gekomen van zijn collega? De geschiedenis terug gaat via een Joodse familie in WO II, een boerenechtpaar eind 19e/begin 20ste eeuw, de echtgenote van een Franse ambassadeur in de Napelontisch...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Tasha enderby rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

I am finally finished...this book is a bit dry and wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. I liked the way the story is told of the portrait from the last person to have it all the way to the begining of it ever being painted. I think the part that broke my heart the most was the end, when magdalina got her last chapter and she talked about her longing to have her father the artist notice her and want to spend time with her. It was when she was at her wits end with always being stuck wit...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Amalie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Art lovers, Historical Fiction lovers,

Shelves: historical-fiction, art-or-history

Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a eight interlinked stories revolve around a single painting, a portrait of a young girl whose face seems to be filled with dreams and longings - may be a lost Vermeer. The story begins in present-day America and ends in the 17th century Netherlands, scrolling backward as each chapter accounts for the painting's role in the life of one of its owners. She is dressed so simple but quickly finds a special place in each of her owners' hearts and lives, and an intimate relati...more

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About Susan Vreeland

Susan Vreeland is an internationally renowned best-selling author and three-time winner of the Theodor Geisel Award for Fiction, the San Diego Book Award’s highest honor. She is known for writing historical fiction on art-related themes, including Girl in Hyacinth Blue, The Passion of Artemisia, and Luncheon of the Boating Party (Penguin, 2007). Her books have been translated into 25 languages. Sh...more

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“Everybody works . . . . That's what life is. Work and a little play and a lot of prayer.” — 6 people liked it

“If two people love the same thing, she reasoned, then they must love each other, at least a little, even if they never say it.” — 6 people liked it

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