2 Cassettes read by Emma Fielding and William Gaminara
A novel of art and illusion, doomed love and a tulip bulb . . .
Amsterdam in the 1630s: considered by all who lived there the wealthiest city in the world. They do, after all, possess the richness of art, literature, music and the refinement of society, along side commercial wealth. The artists of the time are busy painting the inhabitants of the city who wish to be immortalised on canvas. A young woman Sophia Sandvoort sits for such a portrait, beside her elderly husband Cornelis. They are surrounded by objects showing Cornelis' piety, yet he has not been able to resist including a tulip, petals full on the point of dropping, into the composition. Like many of his fellow Dutchman, Cornelis has made his fortune from the trading of this exotic flower and it's bulbs.
As the painter, Jan van Loos, starts to capture Sophia's likeness on the canvas, the flame of passion ignites between the painter and the subject's eyes. And so through the development of the painting a slow dance begins to unfold between the households inhabitants. Ambitions, desires and dreams accumulate into deception. As the lies and deception multiply the listener is taken on a thrilling journey that results in a tragic climax.
