The Portrait [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Iain Pears (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2005

A dark and disturbing novel of suspense, set at the turn of the 20th century, by the bestselling author of An Instance of the Fingerpost. The windswept isle of Houat, off the coast of Brittany, is no picturesque artists' colony. At the turn of the twentieth century, life is harsh and rustic. So why did Henry MacAlpine forsake London -- where he had been feted by critics and gallery owners, his works exhibited alongside the likes of Cezanne and Van Gogh -- to make his home in this remote outpost? The truth begins to emerge when, four years into his exile, MacAlpine receives his first visitor. Influential art critic William Naysmith has come to the island to sit for a portrait. Over the course of the sitting, the power balance between the two men shifts dramatically as the critic whose pen could anoint or destroy careers becomes a passive subject. And as the painter struggles to capture Nasmith's true character on canvas, a story unfolds -- one of betrayal, hypocrisy, forbidden love, suicide and ultimately murder. The Portrait is a darkly atmospheric, psychologically complex, macabre and chilling novel from a master storyteller.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Justly praised for his complex historical thrillers (An Instance of the Fingerpost; The Dream of Scipio), Pears scales down to a simple tale of vengeance told by a narrator obsessed with destroying the man he once called his friend and mentor. Henry MacAlpine has abandoned his comfortable life as a celebrated portraitist in early 1900s London and fled to a tiny island off the coast of Brittany. To that lonely spot he lures William Naysmith, the British art world's most famous critic, with the promise of painting his portrait. In the course of the narrative, MacAlpine recalls the development of his artistic talent with the advice and praise of the ambitious Naysmith. The suspense lies in the gradual revelation of Naysmith's ruthless use of power, yet the double crime for which MacAlpine holds him accountable comes as little surprise. While this novel never approaches the sly cleverness and tingling suspense of John Lanchester's A Debt toPleasure, which it otherwise resembles, readers will enjoy some period ironies, as when MacAlpine expresses contempt for the upstart French Impressionists, while the contemptible Naysmith discerns their true genius. Anybody in the business of criticism, whether it be artistic or literary, will be chastened by Pears's indictment of a critic's power to make or ruin reputations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Who would have thought a 200-page monologue about art could be so fascinating? Yet Pears has pulled it off with panache. A little less sprawling and complicated than Pears’s acclaimed An Instance of the Fingerpost and The Dream of Scipio (HHH Nov/Dec 2002), and yet richer and more satisfying than his Jonathan Argyll mystery series, The Portrait is just that—a portrait of a single episode, a single monologue. Though most reviewers bent over backwards not to reveal the "surprise" ending, the finale will not really come as a great shock. Still, Pears is no less learned, skilled, crafty, or acclaimed than the two men who sit at the center of this novel, and readers will relish a few hours in Pears’s capable hands.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover (April 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2286018049
• ISBN-13: 978-2286018047
• ASIN: B000VYP2IU
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,112,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended, with reservations, May 1, 2005

By 

sb-lynn (Santa Barbara, California United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Portrait (Hardcover)

This short novel is by one of my favorite writers, Iain Pears. His novel, An Instance of the Fingerpost, goes down as one of my favorite all time reads.

His newest novel, The Portrait, is well written, and intriguing. Saying that, it has its problems.

Summary, no spoiler:

This story is told entirely by the narration of a painter named Henry MacAlpine. Henry now lives in isolation on an island off the coast of France, and has agreed paint a portrait of his old friend and nemesis, William Nasmyth, a famous art critic. The story takes place over a series of days in the year 1913.

As Henry paints this portrait, he reminisces about his relationship with William, and the book is told entirely in the form of a monologue from Henry.

The book is filled with a sense of menace, as Henry recalls past events and relationships, and it becomes clear that Something Bad might happen.

The story is well told, but because of its form, this monologue, I found it a rather slow read, and had to put it down at times lest it become tedious.

In the hands of most other authors, this book would've lost steam early on....but Pears is such an adept writer that he manages to keep you hooked.

Highly recommended, and yes, the ending is a goody.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I am confessing my sins...before I have committed them.", May 1, 2005

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Portrait (Hardcover)

In a change of pace from his previous intricately plotted and lengthy novels, Iain Pears here writes a novella-length study of an artist painting a three-part portrait of the most famous art critic in England in the years of 1910 - 1913, a man with whom he has had a significant history over many years. The critic, William Nasmyth, has come to Houat, a small island off the Brittany coast, where the artist, Henry Morris MacAlpine, has been living in exile for several years.

As he paints Nasmyth's portrait during the course of several days, MacAlpine addresses him about their past in London, the state of the art world and its artists during these years of post-impressionism, their mutual friends and lovers, and Nasmyth's role in the success or failure of MacAlpine's artist-friends. Sometimes angry and hostile, sometimes snide, and occasionally sentimental, MacAlpine reveals the sordid details of Nasmyth's life and ego-driven personality, which he intends to use in the portrait, a triptych--his view of Nasmyth as he was, as he is now, and as he will be.

The artist, articulate and observant, feels totally realistic, a person we come to know, not by what he says, but by what he implies and then forces us to conclude. Nasmyth, we see, loves power, the making or breaking of artists. MacAlpine's friend Evelyn and his model Jacky are depicted realistically, and the reader, who comes to know them through MacAlpine's reminiscences about them, empathizes with them for their treatment by Nasmyth. Gradually, the reader becomes aware that MacAlpine intends to make Nasmyth pay for past crimes, and though the reader may figure out generally how the novel will conclude, Pears has saved some surprises. When the novel draws to its close, the reader feels the rightness of the conclusion.

Because the novel is a dramatic monologue, the reader comes to know only the speaker and his point of view. No conversations with other characters exist to show how they interact with each other, and the reader never sees other characters in action. This leads to a novel which "tells about" what happens, instead of recreating it and allowing the reader to share it. The author must build suspense and tension through words, rather than through action scenes, a device which leaves the reader at arm's length. Filled with personal details which reveal the heart and soul of a struggling artist, the novel is a fascinating glimpse of the art world during the age of post-impressionism and of one artist who seeks revenge on a critic. Mary Whipple

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully wicked little gem from a great storyteller, August 10, 2005

By 

Jamie McMahan (Burnsville, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Portrait (Hardcover)

Having read and been a great fan of Pears' two previous novels "An Instance of the Fingerpost" and "The Dream of Scipio", both much more voluminous than his latest novel. I thought picking up the much shorter book for a quick read was worth the time and money and most assuredly it was. "The Portrait" is an intriguingly intimate yarn centering around a reclusive painter's decision to accept a commission to paint a portrait of an art critic and former acquaintance. The writer interjects the reader into the artist's small studio on a remote and rugged island off the coast of France and begins to unveil a tale which keeps the reader's attention by becoming evermore dark and suspenseful. I must confess, I did find the plot to be a wee bit transparent by the middle of the novella, but didn't find that that diminished the book in the slightest as I felt as a reader that the plot is almost not as important as the dynamic of artist versus critic which is so expertly written and most certainly applies not only to the characters in the book, but also in a broader and more general sense as a debate between art versus criticism in general, and I might add not a bad little novella of suspense to boot, peppered with wry wit and some of the most well written and quotable lines I have read in any novel as of late. In short I would definitely highly recommend "The Portrait", and would add that any reader who likes this novel and hasn't read any other of the author's works might find it well worth the time to dig into Pears' lengthier tomes.