The Passion of Artemisia by Vreeland, Susan - 2002

New York, New York, U.S.A.: Viking Press, 2002. Book. Fine. Hardcover. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Near-new condition. NO remainder marks or clippings. Price inside dustcover: $24.95. NO writing, marks or tears inside book. Tight spine, bright pages. 288 pages. Synopsis Set against the lush tapestry of Renaissance Rome, this is a mesmerizing tale of love, art, and most notably, the love of art. After Artemisia Gentileschi, a promising young painter, is raped by her instructor, a papal court orders her torture and her father betrays her. Shamed but not vanquished, she asks her harsh parent to arrange her marriage to another painter and, thus vindicated in the eyes of society and the church, she begins a new life. But not a happy one. Artemisia's visceral passion to create art specifically, to depict on canvas the kind of strong heroine she herself has become threatens to overwhelm her roles as wife and daughter. Her struggle to reconcile her conflicting passions lies at the heart of Artemisia's story, ingeniously crafted by Susan Vreeland, whose gift of language is matched by her uncanny ability to evoke a distant time and place. Vreeland's previous novel, the best-selling Girl in Hyacinth Blue, dazzled the critics and was voted a Book Sense Book of the Year finalist. Once again bringing the visual arts to vivid life, The Passion of Artemisia is a glowing, subtly delineated portrait of a remarkable woman the first to make a significant contribution to art history. San Francisco Chronicle Vreeland's remarkable ability.makes this novel an accomplished work of art. Biography Since the publication of her bestselling Girl in Hyacinth Blue, novelist Susan Vreeland has explored the relationships between life and art, rendering scenes from Amsterdam to Rome to the Canadian wilderness with sensitivity and a delicate, painterly precision..