Private View

by Alexandra Connor

Behind universally admired works of art - THE LAUGHING CAVALIER by Hals, THE BIRTH OF VENUS by Botticelli, THE THINKER by Rodin, and many more - are the artists themselves, whose lesser-known eccentricities are revealed in PRIVATE VIEW. Here is Fra Filippo Lippi, a friar who had to be locked in a room by the Pope in order to keep him at the easel and away from the bedroom. William Blake, who talked to the dead - and Theodore Gericault, who brought the dead home with him to use as unpaid models. Here is Rembrandt, who not only owned a monkey himself, but once painted a similar creature into a patron's family portrait. And of course the swaggering Michelangelo, who as a child recommended his 'perfect' services 'in all humility' to the Duke of Milan...

Genres: Art

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 2003

About the author

Alex (Alexandra) Connor was born in the UK. After beginning her career writing family sagas, she went on to write art thrillers and then historical novels. Having been published and translated in sixteen countries and enjoyed a No 1 best seller, she won the Rome Prize for Literature. Now returning to her love of thriller writing, she is extending her series of art thrillers with A WREATH of SERPENTS.

Reviews

[Meg]

read and enjoyed this in high school.