Loved this. It was an engaging look into heyday of Amsterdam and it’s political and entrepreneurial issues of the time. I also enjoyed hearing about the art processes of the time to support what I know about Rembrandt and Vermeer. It made my trip to Amsterdam come alive!

This novel takes us to 17th century Holland against the background Of William Of Orange coming of age and Louis XIV's invasion of Holland. This is they heyday of the great Dutch painters.
Francesca Visser wishes only to learn to paint. Marriage is the furthest thing from her mind. In fact, she is minded not to marry. Her younger sister, Aletta is also struggling to find independence while the youngest Sybylla wants to marry the richest man she can find.
Since the death of their mother from bearing Sybylla, Francesca has been responsible for running her father's household and raising her sister. Although her father loves his family, he is a somewhat feckless impractical man with a weakness for gambling which leads him into trouble that directly affects Francesca.
Two men love Francesca, Pieter Van Doorne and Ludolf Van Deventer.
She goes to Delft to apprentice to Johannes Vermeer only to find to her bewilderment the freedom she has always enjoyed taken away. Meanwhile her sister, Aletta gets on the wrong side of their father and also finds herself in Delft. Sybylla prepares herself to marry only to get sidetracked.
I greatly enjoyed this novel. It took me less time to read than I thought as I found it difficult to tear myself away.
Highly recommended.

'm a sucker for most anything set in old Netherlands, and throw in art, Vermeer (some license is taken in this historical fiction book by giving him a female apprentice, the main character Francesca. The characters are well drawn and the first half of the book spends its time with the Visser family, with the three daughters, the oldest of whom is Francesca. The author describes their world in colors and textures like an artist would see it, and characters are all well rounded and believable. The first two thirds of the book concerns Francesca's attention to her apprenticeship in Delft while she tries to put the unwanted attention of her father's patron in the back of her mind. Difficult to do when she discovers her father has betrothed her to him in return for payment of gambling debts. The historical aspect comes into focus (too) quickly the last fourth of the book or so, when France is about to invade Holland, and she finds herself aiding the patriots in Delft when the man she truly loves is in danger. The romance between the two is sweet and strong. But the other sisters also have their own loves, and that is what I found a to be too cliche to be a strong 5 rating from me (and the sappy epilogue clinched it).

It is interesting, kept me reading through the whole book, but... it's a bit long. Could have benefited if Rosalind had decided to tell the story of only one of the girls. All their stories could have been an independent book. It's a bit trope-y, but it was written 1991 (or first published), so I suppose they wouldn't have been quite that trope-y at that time :-D

“To call on Master Rembrandt. I’ve got that new book on Caravaggio that he wants to read.”
Surely not.
Giovanni Baglione's Le vite de' pittori, 1642
Oh... so it could be possible! Wow!

"She was unaware of the extent to which her face had taken on an unusual and striking beauty, for she saw no symmetry in her features such as she admired in others and she was dismissive of compliments. Yet there was a haunting, fascinating quality to her expressive visage that Hendrick had long recognized in his paintings of her, and which was further enhanced by her lustrous green eyes, the upper lids weighed down by thick lashes. Her nose was narrow with delicately flaring nostrils and her neck was long, giving her a swanlike poise. Her cheekbones were wide, as was her mouth, but her lips were curved and her complexion was smooth as creamy silk."
Ugh.

The guy bought tulip bulbs which are probably VERY expensive and the maid says "OK", and takes them, VERY WELL AWARE OF THAT THEY CAN'T AFFORD THEM! She should have told the man to take them back because master doesn't have any money.

So a pregnant woman falls, hits herself and goes into labor.
About 1/3 of the book later, a pregnant woman falls, hits herself and goes into labor.
Ok, so things like that happen. But twice in the same book? No.

Jan Vermeer probably didn't use camera obscura at all. How would I know?
1) there wasn't no camera obscura boxes, rooms or lenses in his house when he died
2) he puts details in the paintings that weren't there in real life, like tiles on the floor
3) there are pin marks in his paintings corresponding where chalk lines would have been in the elementary 1 vanishing point perspective
4) it was too dark in the rooms for camera obscura. It needs a LOT of light, usually it was used only outside in strong sunlight.

So, she couldn't write, and she refused the offer of using Jan Vermeer as her messenger, because she was waiting for Willem de Hartog... because "I don't want to cause any bone of contention between you and Geetruyd". What? How would she have known? Uh. Problems just to have problems.

“There will be no more meals served to the master on trays. He’s not an invalid."
He isn't? He lost his legs in an accident, invalid is exactly what he is! :-D

I expected this book to be a copy cat of Girl With a Pearl Earring, which I also enjoyed. I found that the only similarity between the two, was the setting in mid-1600s Holland and the presence of the painter, Vermeer, the plot completey diverged from one another. In the Golden Tulip, the main character, Fransesca, is an aspiring painter who undertakes an apprenticeship with Johannes Vermeet in order to gain her mastership. Along the course, she must overcome the obstacles to her relationship with her true love, Pieter, and the unwanted seductions of a ill suitor. The story is also intertwined with the romances and pursuits of her two younger sisters. In the end, the story concludes happily ever after with the demise of the shifty suitor and the marriage of the two lovers. My only complaint was the sporadic pace of the book. At times, the author focused ad nauseum on detail and setting and at other times rushed through major events in a sentence or two.

Comme l'impression d'évoluer dans une peinture, perpétuellement. Une plume qui sent bon la gouache, des descriptions hautes en nuances, et une action qui ne cesse jamais de vous surprendre. La tulipe d'or, c'est une petite pépite comme on n'en fait plus.

I enjoyed this story and I’m getting to like the style of writing of this author. The biggest problem I have with this one is that some main characters are flat, who spoiled the story for me to a point I almost put the book away. But I’m glad I didn’t.

While I enjoyed this novel, it was too long. This could have been a trilogy.. a book for each sister. I felt there were too many subplots which took away from the main story.

This is a slow and steady book...very well written and an enjoyable read

Interesting story, just tooooo long in the telling! I adored Rosalind Laker's "To Dance with Kings", an epic gothic saga set in the era of King Louis XIV. So imagine my delight in finding two other titles by the same author on the shelf at my local library.
The "Golden Tulip" is set in 17th century Holland during the era of the great painters, Rembrandt and Vermeer. The main character, Francesca is a gifted young artist who becomes Vermeer's protege. During her apprenticeship, she also becomes embroiled in a sinister arranged marriage and a war between Holland and France.
Her lively younger sisters also are engaging characters not to mention her hard drinking gambler artist father. It just seemed about 150 pages too long and took a lot of effort keep motivated until the end, when the pace picked up appreciably.

Set in 17th century Holland, The Golden Tulip chronicles the life of Francesca Visser, the daughter of a master painter and inveterate gambler whose debts cause him to all but sell Francesca to his patron. Francesca is set upon the goal of being a master painter herself, but there are all sorts of complications – financial, emotional – before she can achieve this. Honestly, I almost stopped reading after about 10 pages because of Laker’s all-too-blatant exposition about Dutch customs of the time: there was an awful lot of “she did this, which was the way all girls of her social standing did it,” and “as most Dutch houses of the day were laid out.” After about 50 pages, it got better, though it was much more of a melodrama than I had expected, with major upheavals going on in the lives of Francesca and her two sisters; although it covers the same time period as Girl with the Pearl Earring, and is also set among painters, it is far less restrained. I was also disappointed that the tulipomania promised on the cover – a period in Dutch history that I was interested in learning about – happened some 20 years before the start of the narrative, so while it is mentioned, it is not part of the story.

Een meesterwerk! Het is ongeveer 1670 en de tijd van de Barok. Francesca Visser groeit op in Amsterdam waar haar vader schilder is maar ze wil zelf ook schilder worden. Voor een vrouw is het echter extra moeilijk om kansen te krijgen. Bovendien heeft vader een talent voor gokschulden en houdt hij wel van een borrel. Zo ontstaat er een dreigende situatie als Ludolf van Deventer haar wil terwijl vader schulden bij hem heeft. Zelf houdt Francesca van de tulpenkweker Pieter van Doorne. Dan kan ze toch in de leer bij Johannes Vermeer in Delft maar ook hier is ze niet veilig voor Van Deventer. Hij blijkt ook nog een crimineel te zijn: ze wou die griezel toch al niet maar nu hou je je hart vast of het wel goed gaat. Aan de zijlijn is Francesca's zusje dat ook graag schildert en een man leert kennen. Ook haar liefde gaat niet zonder slag of stoot.

Verschillende elementen van de Gouden Eeuw zijn op een natuurlijke manier in het boek verwerkt. Daarmee is het niet alleen een liefdesroman maar ook een tijdreis. Verder is het soepel geschreven en leest het goed weg. De ontknoping is onverwacht maar passend.