Portrait of an Unknown Lady

New York Times Notable author María Gainza, who dazzled critics with Optic Nerve, returns with the captivating story of an auction house employee on the trail of an enigmatic master forger.

In the Buenos Aires art world, a master forger has achieved legendary status. Rumored to be a woman, she specializes in canvases by the painter Mariette Lydis, a portraitist of Argentinean high society. But who is this absurdly gifted creator of counterfeits? What motivates her? And what is her link to the community of artists who congregate, night after night, in a strange establishment called the Hotel Melancólico?

On the trail of this mysterious forger is our narrator, an art critic and auction house employee through whose hands counterfeit works have passed. As she begins to take on the role of art-world detective, adopting her own methods of deception and manipulation, she warns us "not to proceed in expectation of names, numbers or dates . . . My techniques are those of the impressionist."

Driven by obsession and full of subtle surprise, Portrait of an Unknown Lady is a highly seductive and enveloping meditation on what we mean by authenticity in art, and a captivating exploration of the gap between what is lived and what is told.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 03/22/2022
ISBN: 9781646220328
Pages: 192
Weight: 1.25lbs

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 11/01/2021
Booklist 02/01/2022 pg. 19
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2022