Inspector Grant has been injured and is laid up in hospital, bored out of his mind. His friend, Marta, brings him a collection of prints from the National Gallery, including the portrait of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England. Grant asks each of his visitors what they know about Richard and what they make of the image. Opinions vary, but on one thing they are all absolutely certain: Richard murdered his two nephews so that he could become king. Grant sets out from his hospital bed, with the assistance of a few friends and colleagues, to prove that Richard did no such thing, that he was in fact a noble and generous king as well as a brilliant soldier with a loyal following.
This is the framework of the novel The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, published in 1951. The novel is a sort of police procedural in that Grant looks for and analyzes evidence, interrogates witnesses, albeit 400 years dead. The plot is driven by Grant’s curiosity about the subject of this painting https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/richard-iii-arch-topped-portrait-c-1510-40
The novel was the assigned reading for the June Words Words Words book club hosted by the Folger in Washington. I found it interesting to re-visit the novel for the book club (as had a number of the other participants), having read it when I was an undergraduate many decades ago. It puts me in mind of other books I’ve enjoyed and re-read or more recently come upon–novels whose plots are driven by a single artifact which serves as a frame tale.
Shuffling and clearing some of my bookshelves, I came across Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland (2000) which had been sitting there for a while. A formerly unknown (possible) Vermeer is in the possession of a math teacher who had it from his father who had stolen it from an Amsterdam family in the 1940s. The novel, a series of short stories with the painting at the center of each tale, goes back in time through Napoleonic Europe, 17th century floods in the Netherlands, to the making of the painting and the loss of the painting’s provenance. The characters in the stories are well developed, emotionally resonant, alive in vividly drawn landscapes.
Pictures and paintings drive the action in Lost in Time by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. I originally read this book issued as Where Were You, Robert? but having lost my original copy, the second-hand copy I purchased has the former title. When Robert stares at an image on television, or a photograph, or a painting, his eyes get fuzzy and he finds himself inside the image–1954 Siberia, post-war Australia, pre-war Germany, the 30 Years War, a 17th century Dutch painter’s workshop. He finally figures out how he can get home to his own time and place. He feels as though he’s been gone for years, but it’s only the space of an evening in his native time.
As I think about it, books whose plots are driven by artifacts–paintings, rare manuscripts, maps–abound; we’re spoiled for choice. Maybe this should be a sub-genre–historical fiction? mystery/thriller?
I think I will be back another time with a list of such novels that have captured my attention.
Apologia (of sorts)–I’ve abandoned my initial timeline for posting new entries in Booked for Travel. If I have nothing to say, I refrain from writing. I do plan, going forward, to post something about books and travel toward the beginning of each month. Thank you to my readers for your patience.
Booked for Travel 