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The Lost Masterpiece
A Novel
Description
A fascinating art history novel from New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger, B.A. Shapiro, whose new mystery follows 19th-century Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot and her 21st-century great-great-great granddaughter, who inherits a Nazi-looted Èdouard Manet painting; for fans of Sarah Dunant, Elizabeth Kostova, Robin Oliveira, and Nancy Horan.
Stretching from the late-nineteenth century to the present day, The Lost Masterpiece is wrapped around an enigmatic and powerful painting, Party on the Seine. Stolen by the Nazis. Believed to be destroyed for almost a century. Possibly haunted by the anguished spirit of Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot. Survivor of a flood, an earthquake and a fire when all the other artworks around it were destroyed. What secrets does it hold? What power?
When Tamara Rubin inherits the valuable Party on the Seine, created by the famous ancestor she never knew she had—Edouard Manet—she also inherits a deep history and mystery. As the painting begins to metamorphose into darker and more terrifying versions of itself, Tamara’s life is upended. Who was her great-great-great-great-grandmother Berthe Morisot? What wounds, riddles and resentments plagued her, and what lengths will the spirit of Berthe go in order to enact her revenge?
The Lost Masterpiece is story of love, adultery, betrayal, longing, family secrets, and the birth of Impressionism. Set partly in Paris in the late 1800s, the novel explores the life of a female artist when it was completely improper for a woman to paint seriously. Even as Berthe Morisot socialized and shared a studio with Manet, Degas, Renoir, and others, she carried on a passionate affair with Édouard Manet. Shapiro brings Berthe’s world to life, as she traces her work through generations of her descendants and introduces us to a painter as brilliant and original as her male counterparts. Across 150 years of triumphs, struggles, passions, animosities and malevolence, Shapiro does what she always does so brilliantly: she shows us how art can open up our senses and enlarge our world.
Stretching from the late-nineteenth century to the present day, The Lost Masterpiece is wrapped around an enigmatic and powerful painting, Party on the Seine. Stolen by the Nazis. Believed to be destroyed for almost a century. Possibly haunted by the anguished spirit of Impressionist painter Berthe Morisot. Survivor of a flood, an earthquake and a fire when all the other artworks around it were destroyed. What secrets does it hold? What power?
When Tamara Rubin inherits the valuable Party on the Seine, created by the famous ancestor she never knew she had—Edouard Manet—she also inherits a deep history and mystery. As the painting begins to metamorphose into darker and more terrifying versions of itself, Tamara’s life is upended. Who was her great-great-great-great-grandmother Berthe Morisot? What wounds, riddles and resentments plagued her, and what lengths will the spirit of Berthe go in order to enact her revenge?
The Lost Masterpiece is story of love, adultery, betrayal, longing, family secrets, and the birth of Impressionism. Set partly in Paris in the late 1800s, the novel explores the life of a female artist when it was completely improper for a woman to paint seriously. Even as Berthe Morisot socialized and shared a studio with Manet, Degas, Renoir, and others, she carried on a passionate affair with Édouard Manet. Shapiro brings Berthe’s world to life, as she traces her work through generations of her descendants and introduces us to a painter as brilliant and original as her male counterparts. Across 150 years of triumphs, struggles, passions, animosities and malevolence, Shapiro does what she always does so brilliantly: she shows us how art can open up our senses and enlarge our world.
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Praise
"B.A. Shapiro has painted a truly marvelous novel of passion -- passion for art, for creativity, for love and for the truth. With one deft stroke after another she evokes the past and connects one of the most important times in Impressionism to a moving present day search for roots, connection and meaning. Riveting, compelling and intensely powerful."
—M.J. Rose, bestselling author of The Museum of Mysteries
"How could you not be enraptured with a brilliant new Shapiro novel showcasing what she does best—showing us how art shapes our world. Real life painter Berthe Morisot shared a studio with Impressionists Manet, Degas, Renoir and other luminaries, but being a woman, she never got the attention she deserved. But here, Morisot haunts both a stolen masterwork painting and its modern day owner, crafting a story of love, scandal and revenge, into a triumphant page turner that’s part art history, part ghost story and totally original."
—Caroline Leavitt, bestselling author of Pictures of You and Days of Wonder