Even though I'm Dutch and grew up on the Old Masters, I knew next to nothing about Maria van Oosterwijck. And so, I read this book as fiction, without fact checking, just enjoying the play.
As such, I Am You is a stunner read, exceptionally well written, poetry in motion.
I loved everything about it, good, bad and ugly. Two women in a men's world in artistic Amsterdam, the constant powerplay mixed with nature's beauty, all brought to the perfect finale. What a story!

Thank you Netgalley and Firefinch Publishing for the ARC.

This transported me back into the world of the Dutch Renaissance, bringing to life the stories of the painters behind the flowers we know so well.

A vivid portrait of the time, with explorations of gender fluidity, sapphic love and power dynamics. I enjoyed being transported into Gerta/Pieter and Maria’s world, and the nuances of the time.

As an art lover, I thoroughly enjoyed how rooted this is in the history we know, being able to look up the paintings that the characters have worked on, some of which I have seen in person many years before.

In this novel Redel transports us to 17th century Amsterdam, to the fineries and vulgarities of life. We meet the noble classes and their servants.

We follow the life of an 8 year old girl Gerta who is sent to work for a genteel family disguised as a boy to increase her chances of work. All the while she is observed by the employer’s daughter Maria, who constantly sketches her at work and at rest. When Gerta can no longer disguise her true sex, the family accept her as a girl maidservant to Maria, and Maria later takes her away to assist her when she decides to study art under a famous painter.

Gerta is a quick learner and soon secretly perfects the art of grinding and mixing paints for her mistress, which become highly envied, though Maria claims they are made by her own fair hand.

Some time later Gerta also dares to paint, and a friendly but competitive relationship builds between the two. However equal the standard of their work, Maria alone will get the commissions and receive the praise- as who would believe a lowly servant could achieve such skill and produce such beauty?

The process of painting is beautifully described, and we get a feel for the teamwork with the two women working side-by-side, appraising and criticising each other’s work. But more than just this, the novel is about the personal relationship between the two women.

This is a fascinating and highly researched work of literature that reads extremely well, we can picture and almost smell the streets of Amsterdam, the dangerous port, the bustling market scenes, and even the English Royal Court. The balance of power between the two women is breathtakingly explored, and to witness the journey of a woman from lowly beginnings to fame in the most noble circles is truly engrossing and even more so because it is based on fact.

I don’t normally choose historical novels but this was a wonderful discovery.

that beautiful cover was part of the feeling and brilliance of this story. it captured so much of what i wanted to say about the book itself too.
this book really got me, not always in a good way haha. but it got me good. and that in itself told me how much i enjoyed the book, because the character effect me, lol.
the book felt like it was capturing so many important themes. of love and power. of what you sacrifice for both those things and when are lines crossed if they were ever behind it in the first place?
these two woman have such an intense and moving relationship. i could never quite pin it down. or never quite decide where i drew my lines of right and wrong when it felt like it didn't even get there in the first place from their very first meeting. its a partnership but also so much a dark rivalry that never feels quite safe. add to that they are two woman in a mans mans mans world. you can feel like these two are revolving and twisting around each other. it makes sense, it leaps from the pages but it again never feels quite settled. x
the love for each other is there. isn't it?
but there need for their careers and their love for making it in a world that doesn't want them to? where does that lie or interrupt their relationship. and when they move like oil and water together yet apart, slipping and sliding in breaking through to the art world and then falling back. how does this balance ever work. but somehow even then they need each other. dont they?
its such a complex but brilliantly put together book. it all made sense and yet it unsettles and make you feel all over the place alongside what these woman are both going through with each other and within the world they are trying to succeed in. and of course this very world couldn't have helped the relationship they could ever have.
a brilliant read. i had a really good time reading this one. it felt so smart for me, but i appreciated then all the more that i got to enjoy it.

I Am You is a historical fiction novel that pieces together the small amount known about Maria von Oosterwijck and her maid, Gerta Pieters.

Maria was a renowned female still life artist who worked in Amsterdam in the mid 1600s. She was one of a small number of successful female artists at the time of the Dutch Golden Age (think Vermeer, Hals, Rembrandt) and the conventional story goes that she even taught her maid, Gerta (real name Geertgen Wyntges) to paint as well as she could.

I Am You turns the history on its head. Narrated by Gerta she tells how she taught herself to produce paints for Maria, with whom she was deeply in love. After teaching herself to paint the two run the studio together but with only Maria's name on the canvases, which leads Gerta to much internal conflict.

Victoria Redel has given us a novel that is as sumptuous as the still life paintings produced by von Oosterwijck or Wyntges. They are not my cup of tea but the paintings are exquisite.

We are treated to Gerta's inner life as she struggles with her love for Maria and wishing to be known for her own accomplishments. As hard as it was for von Oosterwijck to be recognised in the 17th century it must have felt impossible for her maid.

There are some difficult subjects covered including sexual abuse but it is an integral part of the plot.

I enjoyed the novel very much and it was interesting to see the world of art from a female perspective when it was so dominated by men.

Definitely recommended.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Firefinch Publishing.