Tea with Tracy Chevalier

From the cover of Tracy Chevalier's new book The Last Runaway published by HarperCollins

Rebecca Shanks tells us about her experience of meeting Tracy Chevalier, after winning the coveted prize of tea with the author at the National Gallery at our Children's Reading Fund charity auction

I was 18 when I read Tracy Chevalier's The Lady and the Unicorn, becoming utterly enchanted by her depiction of a philandering artist, a tapestry weaver, and the women who may have inspired that most spectacular and cryptic series of tapestries hanging in the Musée du Moyen-Âge, Paris. Immediately after Unicorn, I - along with the rest of the world - read, and adored, Girl with the Pearl Earring, and was introduced to a period of art history that I knew little of, but was fascinated by nonetheless. So, when my Father said he was going to a Booktrust fundraising event where Tracy Chevalier would be in attendance, and indeed, that he had bid for - and won - an afternoon with Ms. Chevalier at the National Gallery, I was thrilled. 

On the 8th of February, my friend Lydia, my parents and I, met with Tracy at the gallery, where she led us through several 17th Century Dutch painters; Rembrandt, Steen, de Hooch and of course, Vermeer. With infectious enthusiasm and impeccable research, Tracy drew us into the world which had inspired her most famous novel. In Vermeer's paintings, along with those of his contemporary Pieter de Hooch, you could clearly see the world of Griet, Jan, Tanneke et al. The clarity and detail of these household scenes, which, in comparison to Rembrandt's epic works seem almost banal, gives one a real sense of how these people/characters may have lived. While the original Girl with the Pearl Earring resides in The Hague, one of my favourite examples of Vermeer - complete with an entire string of pearls - was The Guitar Player, currently on loan from Kenwood House. Tracy drew our particular attention to the hands of the aforementioned player; so perfect, they could be from a photograph. 

After an inspiring and illuminating trip around the gallery, we went to have tea (Venetian Rose - delicious) and scones where we continued to chat about everything we had seen, along with a great deal more… Lydia and I even confessed how we had played at being the two heroines in The Lady and The Unicorn at Drama School - I think Tracy was only slightly perturbed! To finish an afternoon of glorious art and fantastic company, Tracy gave us a signed copy of her latest book The Last Runaway - not yet published in the UK. I cannot wait to start, and if the reviews are anything to go by, it will be another wonderful adventure…

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