Narrated in the wise, candid first-person voice of Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), the novel tells the story of Gentileschi's life and career in Renaissance Italy. Vreeland follows up the success of Girl in Hyacinth Blue with another novel delving into the themes of art, history and the lives of women. Vreeland seems to think she can make all this ''meaningful'' by imbuing it with a dated 1970's-style feminism. But in depicting Artemisia's life, Vreeland announces in a prefatory note that she has been true to the record ''only so long as fact furnishes believable drama,'' and that she seeks to portray her subject ''in a way meaningful to us.'' Alas, Vreeland fails on both counts. Susan Vreeland's novel is about Artemisia Gentileschi, who-along with her father is the subject of a current show at the Metropolitan Museum.
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