Art history and mystery collide in Erin Bartels’ new novel

I learn something new every time I read one of Erin Bartels’ books. Her newest, “The Lady with the Dark Hair,” is an intriguing historical drama played out in dual timelines as an artist and museum owner searches for answers about a piece of art that’s believed to have been painted by one of her ancestors.

What I learned is that Bartels has been painting since she was a child. While she was writing the new book, she immersed herself in painting.

“In 2022, I painted a self-portrait once a month,” she said. Those paintings were given away, sold or raffled off for charity.

In the book, contemporary artist Esther Markstrom runs an art museum in East Lansing, while in another timeline, her relative Francisco Vella is an artist in 1880s Toulouse, France.

One of Vella’s paintings, depicting a lady with dark hair, is a centerpiece of Markstrom’s collection. However, she knows very little about her relative apart from where he lived and that he was a minor artist for the time period. A providential visit from a college art professor who questions the painting’s provenance leads Markstrom on an international search to find the truth.

At the same time, we learn more about a young woman, Viviana Torrens, whose story is told in alternating chapters. Torrens was a soldier in one of the Catalan wars, concealing her gender to accompany her twin brother into battle. She works as a servant for a wealthy, successful artist who takes her on as a model and later teaches her to paint.

It’s at the artist’s studio that Torrens meets a traveling salesman who sells pigments to painters, and her next adventure begins. The salesman is Vella, and we simultaneously follow him, Markstrom and Torrens as they navigate life.

Bartels said she based the plot on the concept that family origin stories aren’t always what they seem to be. She cleverly extended that to the origin of the painting Markstrom is researching.

In order to verify the provenance of the painting, Markstrom travels to Gibraltar and, with the assistance of a distant relative, quickly discovers the story behind the piece of art, which the reader already knows. Along the way, her doppelgänger from 150 years ago crosses paths with Mary Cassatt, who would become a famous impressionist painter.

Bartels immersed herself not only in the era of impressionism but also in the geography of Gibraltar.

“The book took a lot of research,” she said.

She also learned about the mores of the 1800s and the limitations that were placed on women, especially artists like Cassatt and Torrens. Although highly sought-after today, impressionist art was thought to be unrefined at the time, Bartels said.

“I wanted readers to understand that the artists who we place on a pedestal today struggled during their times,” she said. “I wanted to explore the life of Torrens and the problem women artists faced with misattribution. They were lost to time.”

She purposely didn’t model Torrens after any real artist, and Torrens’ mentor also didn’t exist.

Though the book touches on the plight of historic women artists, Bartels noted that she didn’t want to write “an angry woman novel.” The novel clearly points out that all men are not evil, and several men in the book help both Torrens and Markstrom in their quests.

Bartels has written six novels and one collection of short stories in her brief career. She said she’s working on a historical novel that ties together real people and real events. Since it isn’t a good fit for her current publisher, she’s looking for a new publisher to take her on.

In writing the book, she’s consulting memoirs, biographies, diaries and letters.

“I have to be really careful about the history since there are individuals who know a lot about the story. I can’t alter the facts,” she said.