The Portraitist, Susanne Dunlap
The Portraitist, Susanne Dunlap
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The Portraitist
A Novel of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard

Author: Susanne Dunlap

Narrator: Deborah Balm

Unabridged: 9 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/30/2022

Synopsis

Based on a true story, this is the tale of Adélaïe Labille-Guiard’s fight to take her rightful place in the competitive art world of eighteenth-century Paris. With a beautiful rival who’s better connected and better trained than she is, Adélaïde faces an uphill battle. Her love affair with her young instructor in oil painting gives rise to suspicions that he touches up her work, and her decision to make much-needed money by executing erotic pastels threatens to create as many problems as it solves. Meanwhile, her rival goes from strength to strength, becoming Marie Antoinette’s official portraitist and gaining entrance to the elite Académie Royale at the same time as Adélaïde.When at last Adélaïde earns her own royal appointment and receives a massive commission from a member of the royal family, the timing couldn’t be worse: it’s 1789, and with the fall of the Bastille her world is turned upside down by political chaos and revolution. With danger around every corner in her beloved Paris, she must find a way adjust to the new order, carving out a life and a career all over again—and stay alive in the process.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stephanie on August 15, 2022

Adélaïde Labille-Guiard strives to be an artist. However, in 18th century France with an unsupportive husband, that is a difficult task. Adélaïde takes care of the husband part by separating from him and taking instruction from François André Vincent at the Louvre. Already an accomplished pastelist,......more

Goodreads review by Carol (Reading Ladies) on August 29, 2022

3.5 Stars Thanks @SheWritesPress for a complimentary e ARC of #ThePortraitist upon my request. All opinions are my own. In The Portraitist by Susanne Dunlap, Adélaïde is forced to make her way in a man’s profession and break barriers. Susanne Dunlap writes the highly imagined story of a real-life arti......more

Goodreads review by Mariama on December 21, 2022

Suzanne Dunlap's "The Portraitist" is historical fiction at its finest. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, which presented the artistic life of Adelaide Labille-Guiard. The novel starts in the mid-1770s, just when American is beginning its journey to independence from England, getting help from......more

Goodreads review by Dorothy on September 19, 2022

In The Portraitist Susanne Dunlap explores the sumptuous world of art in Paris in the 18th century during the tumultuous years leading to the French Revolution. Readers are introduced to the current social and political issues through struggling female artist, Adélaïde Labille-Guitard, and her rival......more

Goodreads review by Anne on July 19, 2022

What did I think? I thought The Portraitist: a Novel of Adelaide Labille-Guiard, by Susanne Dunlap was fantastic. A page turner, an historical journey, an art historians delight, a book with depth and great characters. Susanne Dunlap succeeds at the toughest task before a writer of historical fictio......more

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