In 1845 a Reading bookseller named John Snare came across the dirt-blackened portrait of a prince at a country house auction. Suspecting that it might be a long-lost Velázquez, he bought the picture and set out to discover its strange history. When Laura Cumming stumbled on a startling trial involving John Snare, it set her on a search of her own. At first she pursued the picture, and the life and work of the elusive painter, but then she found herself following the bookseller’s fortunes, too – from London to Edinburgh to nineteenth-century New York, from fame to ruin and exile. Exploring the complex meaning of authenticity and the unshakable determination that drives both artists and collectors of their work, she shows how and why great works of art can affect us.

In association with the Observer.

Speaker biography:

Laura Cumming has been art critic for the Observer since 1999. Previously, she was arts editor of the New Statesman, literary editor of the Listener and deputy editor of Literary Review. She is a former columnist for the Herald and has contributed to the London Evening Standard, the Guardian, L’Express and Vogue. Her book A Face to the World: On Self-Portraits was widely reviewed to critical acclaim. Follow her on Twitter @LauraCummingArt

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