Andrea Hotere

The Vanishing Point is entertaining reading when one is in need of a temporary distraction from The Real World.

This debut novel from New Zealand author Andrea Hotere appeals to my love of art in fiction, and it features a breathtaking painting that's among my favourites in the Prado in Madrid. Las Meninas ('the ladies-in-waiting') was painted in 1656 by Diego Velásquez, who was court painter at the rel="nofollow" target="_top">Royal Alcázar of Madrid during the reign of King Philip IV of Spain. Las Meninas is endlessly fascinating for all sorts of reasons...

Even the title of the painting intrigues, because the five-year-old Infanta Margarita Theresa (1651-1673) was a lady-in-waiting too, waiting to be traded off in a politically strategic marriage. She — in another example of the inbreeding that cursed royal families all over Europe and Britain — had been the subject of negotiations since the mid 1650s and was subsequently betrothed in 1663 to her maternal uncle and paternal cousin, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. She married him in 1666 and thus by marriage at the age of 15 became Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, only to die aged 21 during her seventh pregnancy.

Not only that, the painting was once known as 'The Family of Philip IV' which makes no sense until the figures are all properly identified so that those reflected in the mirror to the left of the Infanta are revealed as Philip IV and his wife Queen Mariana. Thus the tragedy of this family is exposed by the title: the Infanta was their only surviving child at this time. Theirs is a family of just three, at a time when royal successions were crucial.

To read the rest of my review (and see the relevant images) please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/10/22/the-vanishing-point-2023-by-andrea-hotere/… (meer)