Velázquez Re-imagined
Every so often, a novel comes along that
challenges one’s expectations of the genre. Amy Sackville’s Painter to the King
is one such work. It is, ostensibly, a fictional biography of Diego Velázquez,
covering in particular the decades he spent in the service of King Philip IV of
Spain and the relationship which developed between the artist and the monarch
who was his royal/loyal patron. Sackville is surprisingly faithful to the
‘facts’, even down to what may seem trivial historical details. Yet, her novel
is by no means a straightforward retelling of the life of Velázquez. For a
start, she adopts a sort of stream of consciousness narration – which is often
breathless and febrile, on occasion seemingly tentative or improvisatory. It
feels as if we have stepped into a painting which is taking shape or as if
we’re standing behind the painter, watching as he sketches at his easel. This
impression is strengthened by the very ‘visual’ descriptions, full of colour
and movement and the play of light and dark. Indeed, the chapters often have
the atmosphere of a tableau, a scene ready to be set down for posterity.
At intervals, the third person approach is interrupted by the narrator intruding with her own ruminations. One should always be wary of identifying the author with the novel’s subject, but it is difficult not to see Sackville herself in the thirty-something narrator embarking on a literary pilgrimage on the steps of Velázquez. It is an inspired touch gives the novel a personal meaning and reveals it as a labour of love. At the same time, however, it can be taken as a warning that, despite all endeavours at authenticity, it is difficult, if not impossible, to recreate the past and particularly the thoughts and feelings of historical figures. This novel is, indeed, biographical and historical but is equally a very contemporary ‘imagining’ of the past.
 |
| Las Meninas (1656), often described as the artist's greatest achievement |
And this brings us to the heart of what is, ultimately, a highly philosophical novel. I felt Painter to the King to be an exploration of the correlation between art and artifice, truth and reality, public personas and private feelings. The characters the novel are constantly preoccupied as to what will survive after their death – the King’s obsession with having his portraits painting is a way of ensuring his memory remains. But even though Diego is notorious for his devastating honesty and his inability to “lie” in his portraits, can we be sure that the King we know is not shaped by the painter’s imagination, just as Diego and his monarch speak to us through Sackville’s prose?
I found this to be a challenging novel, one which I read over a number of weeks alongside less demanding fare. But it is an impressive achievement and I would be surprised and disappointed if this is not – deservedly – recognised when the time for literary awards arrives.
Published April 5th 2018 by Granta Books
***
There are
plenty of recordings of Spanish baroque music which could work as a soundtrack
to this book. This is one:
This is
another album, featuring works from the Siglo de Oro. Jordi Savall, one of my favourite artists, is brilliant at building themed programmes of early music and presenting them in concerts and on CD:
No comments:
Post a Comment