Historical Background
The cover illustration for The Alchemist’s Portrait was based on the ‘Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife’ (1434) by Jan van Eyck and you can take a closer look here.
At the same link you can use the artist index to view another famous painting mentioned in the novel, ‘The Laughing Cavalier’ by Frans Hals (1624), and the painting entitled ‘Banquet of the Officers of the St Hadrian Civic Guard Company (c. 1627)’, also by Frans Hals, will give you a good impression of how people dressed in seventeenth century Amsterdam. One of the figures in the painting was also the inspiration for Nicolas van der Leyden, the villain in The Alchemist’s Portrait.
Here are some links to sites with more information about the historical periods referred to in the novel.
The French Revolution Exploring The French Revolution
The Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1917
