Muse: Uncovering the Hidden Figures Behind Art History's Masterpieces by Ruth Millington -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

I just got back from a trip to see all five grandkids and found a copy of this Muse book waiting for me. How exciting! I need a little quiet time with a book after the rug rats, adorable as they may be. 

I won this copy of Muse in a giveaway from Pegasus Books -- the first book giveaway I've ever won. Have you ever won a book giveaway? Do you enter them? I enter anytime I see a book I like, like this one. But my lucky number has never come up before. 

So I am excited to share it right away on Book Beginnings. Please share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are excited about this week. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring (c. 1665) is one of the most famous paintings in the world, and also one of the most mysterious. 

-- from the Introduction to Muse: Uncovering the Hidden Figures Behind Art History's Masterpieces by Ruth Millington (2022 Pegasus Books). 

Ruth Millington is an art historian and author. In Muse, she explores the stories of the people depicted in 30 famous portraits and the relationships they had with the artists who painted them.

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please add a link to your Book Beginning post in the Linky box below. If you share on social media, please use the hashtag #bookbeginnings. 

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Muse:

In seventeenth-century Europe, female artists were deprived of formal education, denied access to art academies and even their movement was restricted. Gentileschi fought against such adversity, learning to read and write in her twenties, before becoming the first woman to be granted membership of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence in 1616.

Millington challenges the idea that muses are young women depicted in paintings by old male artists. The muses in her book are women and men, young and old, and all play a more active role in inspiring and influencing the art they are a part of.