Overview

‘An intriguing, ambitious and tender blend of art history and personal memoir, this beautifully illustrated book is one to read and re-read’ – Daily Mail, Books of the Year

The bestselling author of On Chapel Sands joins director of Pitzhanger Manor Clare Gough for an illustrated talk about her latest book which uncovers the fascinating and little-known story of the massive gunpowder explosion in 1654 in Holland that killed 32 year old Carel Fabritius, renowned painter of The Goldfinch and A View of Delft. What happened to Fabritius before and after this disaster is just one of the discoveries in a book that explores the relationship between art and life, interweaving the lives of Laura Cumming, her Scottish painter father, who also died too young, and the great artists of the Dutch Golden Age.

Winner of the 2024 Writers’ Prize for Non-Fiction, shortlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction

About Laura Cumming

Laura Cumming has been chief art critic of the Observer since 1999. Her books include A Face to the World: On Self-Portraits and The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velázquez which won the James Tait Black Biography Prize. Her family memoir, On Chapel Sands: My Mother and other Missing Persons was a Sunday Times bestseller and shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford, Costa and Rathbone’s Folio prizes.

About Ealing Book Festival

The aim of Ealing Book Festival is to celebrate the joy of reading and to advance engagement and education around literature and reading. Through our events we hope to bring people and communities together; grow audiences for literature; inspire writers and readers of all ages; showcase well-known authors and promote local writers.

 www.ealingbookfestival.com.