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Title: Good writing, weak history
Review: Vreeland's writing captures the characters and involves the reader with them. I enjoyed reading this book, but was stunned at the contradiction to the reality of Artemesia's life. Although fictionalized biography by definition takes liberties with the subject's life, it makes no sense for example: 1) to portray Artemesia with only one child (she had 4), 2) to portray that daughter with no interest in painting (her surviving daughter was a painter), 3) to have Artemesia return to Rome alone with her daughter (in reality she returned with her husband), 4) to portray Artemesia's marriage as breaking up much earlier than it did in reality. To me these distortions change so much about Artemesia that the book becomes pointless. It puzzles me because Vreeland is a good enough writer to be able to carry a story without contracting essential facts.
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