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Wrestling With The Angel
Wrestling With The Angel
Oct 7, 2024 6:20 AM

Author:Jean-Paul Kauffmann

Wrestling With The Angel

Near the end of his life, the great Romantic artist Eug-ne Delacroix (1798-1863) painted one of the most enigmatic episodes from the Bible: Jacob wrestling with the angel. This painting, which decorates the wall of the Chapel of the Holy Angels in the Paris church of Saint-Sulpice, is Delacroix's "spiritual testament". But Sain-Sulpice is a mysterious church where everything happens behind the scenes. A fan of Inspector Maigret, Jean-Paul Kauffmann investigates the painting and the church, paying particular attention to its hidden history. He searches for clues in a bar in Dieppe, a castle in Quercy, a village in the Argonne, an oak tree in the forest at S-nart, even a golf course in the Loiret. The trail leads him to an art critic, a lecturer at the Louvre, and a sculptor who has a studio in the attic of Saint-Sulpice itself. All these intertwining threads finally come together in a central motif in which Kauffmann himself is involved. There comes a time in which everyone must wrestle with the angel.

Reviews

Brilliant, wholly fascinating. I can't recommend this delightful book too highly

—— Craig Brown , Mail on Sunday

Delightful...a small drama of love, frustration and despair played itself out with massive repercussions for the history of painting

—— Financial Times

A stunning account of Constable's coming of age as both a man and an artist

—— Guardian

Gayford's nuanced narrative throws much-needed fresh light, as well as real understanding, on both Constable's painting and his love life

—— Sunday Telegraph

A scrupulously observed tragical-comical tale

—— Evening Standard

Engaging, cunning, agreeable and alert to the vagaries of human behaviour

—— Literary Review

Gompertz has written an energetic and comprehensive romp through modern art

—— Independent

Will Gompertz is a natural communicator whose passion for art is expressed with wit and verve

—— Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate Gallery

Richardson's argument, cogent, witty and persuasive, backed up by prodigious research and sumptuous illustrations, makes this herculean biography increasingly harsh, tough and uncomfortable to read

—— Observer

Gossipy, profound, insightful and non-judgmental, Richardson is terrific company. This volume joins its predecessors as unrivalled among artists' biographies

—— Financial Times

Richardson, a magisterial writer, brilliant critic and deliriously funny raconteur, is a unique, dazzling match for his subject

—— Financial Times

A colossal undertaking that has taken almost his whole life and will enrich yours forever

—— The Spectator

[It] will be on many an art lover's Christmas list this year.

—— Mary Lussiana , Country & Town House

Fond and faintly disturbing.

—— Nicky Haslam , Spectator

A rattlingly readable effort... Greig does a fine job revealing tales one suspects the artist may have wished to keep private.

—— Alastair Smart , Telegraph

Anybody with an ear for a good story, never mind an eye for fine art, will be beguiled.

—— Hephzibah Anderson , Mail on Sunday

Greig's fascinating, intimate biography of Lucian Freud was a revelation. Every question I had about Freud – from the aesthetic to the intrusively gossipy – was answered with great candour and judiciousness… Wry, dry and completely beguiling.

—— William Boyd , Guardian

[Greig’s] perceptive observations and eagle’s eye for detail immediately drew me in.

—— Rebecca Wallersteiner , Vantage

The Freud who emerges in this account is a slippery figure, not only for journalists who tried to explain him but also for his intimates.

—— New Yorker

Mr Greig's is a compelling portrait of a complete amoralist who became a monstre sacré.

—— The Economist

Greig’s portrait glimmers with his eye for the telling detail.

—— Robert Collins , Sunday Times

A mesmerising book, seamlessly crafted, totally absorbing, and impossible to put down.

—— The Tablet

A very readable and enjoyable book, full of salacious detail of the artist and his fascinating life.

—— Julia Weiner , Jewish Chronicle

This intimate biography of Lucian Freud spares no blushes in its account of one of Britain's greatest painters, tracing his life and work through candid revelations about his views on art, relationships and family.

—— Charlotte Mullins , Art Quarterly

Building up brush stroke by brush stroke, Greig has produced a three-dimensional study of equal candour. Part demon, part genius, it is an absorbing portrait of the complexity of a strange human character.

—— Peter Lewis , Daily Mail

An unapologetic mixture of intelligent perception and high gossip... It is, overall, more revealing than anything about [Freud] yet written.

—— Frances Spalding , Guardian

I am captivated by this fascinating memoir... It's an extraordinary read.

—— Barbara Taylor Bradford , Daily Mail

Candid and intelligent.

—— Spear's

A gripping, page-turning vision of Lucian Freud that penetrates deep into the artist's private life.

—— Sunday Times Online

Utterly engrossing and lavishly illustrated

—— Mail on Sunday
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