The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque – Jeffrey Ford
Combine an unusual plot with a beautifully written book, and you are sure to have a winning combination. Jeffrey Ford managed to achieve that in The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque with only a few minor flaws. This was a book exploring madness and obsession, mystery and unhappiness, all put together in a nineteenth century setting that was completely believable and completely gorgeous.
This is the story of an artist who starts to question his own motives in creating art. His work as a portraitist in New York at the turn of the nineteenth century dawns on him as being a ’sell out’. Painting artificial portraits for money may ensure a comfortable lifestyle, but it doesn’t help to further one’s sense of art, and Piero Piambo, the hero of the novel, is feeling the ensuing emptiness. On the way home from yet another semi-successful portrait unveiling, Piambo is stopped by a mysterious blind man with an even more mysterious message. It is a message inviting him to attend to the house of a new patron, who has offered Piambo more money than he could possibly wish for to paint her portrait. With the money, Piambo begins to imagine the freedom of expression he could enjoy, without having to worry about paying the bills, and in no time he decides to take the commission.
The unusual thing about the commission is that the sitter, Mrs Charbuque, remains behind a screen and Piambo must paint her based solely on the questions he asks her and the answers she gives. This heralds a bizarre tale of the woman’s childhood and marriage, which drag the artist deeper and deeper into the commission and the story behind it.
Simultaneously, however, some unusual things are happening in New York. There appears to be an unusual disease in the air which causes an unspeakable death to the sufferer from bleeding from their eyes. Piambo doesn’t link this strangeness with his own predicament at first, but when someone close to him is afflicted and dies, he begins to realise that the more obsessed with Mrs Charbuque he becomes, the more danger he is in and the more he stands to lose.
It is difficult to say more without giving away the ending, but it would be wrong of me if I did, as the ending is both exciting and surprising. Following Piambo as he becomes more and more captivated by the hidden woman, and then as he gathers the strength to overcome his obsession, achieve his goals and repair his life is rewarding for the reader. My criticism lies in the bizarre about-face of Mrs Charbuque’s servant towards the end which seems somewhat out of character. I felt that some inkling of that perhaps should have been felt as the story progressed and so it seemed a little ‘convenient’. Irrespective, I thought the portrait of insanity was painted in a manner both thrilling and believable and also felt satiated by the final pages which hint at a happily ever after conclusion. When a protagonist has gone through the changes and events that he had, it seems important for things to work out in the end.
I found the writing style attractive and true to the period, and the pace was rapid without being shallow. All in all it was a good read.
Rating: 8/10
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Year: 2002
Date Finished: 28 December 2008
Pages: 307
