In return, he offers her a trip to Italy and the chance to fulfill her dream as a history-painter.Įnticed by Sir Gabriel’s offer, Genevieve infiltrates the factory at Derby, living in the household of the factory’s chief financier and creating designs to adorn the delicate dishes. She must gain the trust of the factory and obtain the secrets of a special color formula that will catapult its owner to the top of the porcelain world. Sir Gabriel Courtenay, a charming and enigmatic nobleman, approaches Genevieve and asks her to go to Derby under false pretenses. Kings would kill for its secrets, and there is a war between factories across Europe to be on the cutting edge of porcelain manufacture. How could porcelain painting be fine art?įor the aristocrats of eighteenth-century Europe, porcelain is the white gold sought after by every collector. Her Huegenot grandfather determines to send her away from London to become a porcelain decorator in Derby, but Genevieve bridles at the exile. Genevieve Planché wants nothing more than to be a “history-painter” like Hogarth and Reynolds, but in a century where painting the human form is an immodest occupation for women, her options are few.
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