Francesca Visser is the daughter of a Dutch painter, talented in painting as well. When her mother dies, she takes over the role of administering the family’s money, which is no easy task as her father is a habitual gambler. But her mother thankfully had deceitfully “apprenticed” her daughters under her husband’s teachings by forging his signature and when the father’s art agent insists on using the money from the sale of a painting of Francesca to further her art education under another famous artist, her father agrees. Only she must give up her love of a tulip merchant in the bargain.
A fascinating tale of how women in Holland could actually become master paintings with the proper tutelage, how life there was during the 19th Century, how destitute artists like Rembrandt were, who died in abject poverty despite his talent, how so many of the people died young, including the two women he loved at thirty and thirty-eight years of age, and how even the tulip merchant’s family had died early on due to the plague. It’s a fascinating tale of an artist family’s dynamics, of tears and joy, set so realistically in another time, another place, I felt I’d time-traveled there. Kudos to Ms. Laker for The Golden Tulip, a fascinating read and keeper for my historical fiction collection.
