Book Cover Art

I am currently reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (#6) by David Mitchell and really relishing it.  However, it has occurred to me several times that if I had just seen this book displayed somewhere on a shelf, or on a table at a bookstore, and not heard about it on NPR, I probably would not have even picked it up. 

You know the old saw "Never judge a book by its cover."?  I can't do that.  The cover of a book influences my decision to pick it up and read the end flap or back cover to see what it might contain.  If I'm browsing the shelf at the library and a title sounds promising, I'll pull it out.  Sometimes the cover art or photograph sends the message "not your type of book" and I'll put it right back.  On the other hand, sometimes the cover is so intriguing that I'll find myself flipping to look at the artwork while I'm reading, and each and every time I pick the volume up or put it down.  I almost always look for the source of the artwork or the cover design to see how the cover concept was put together.  It's one of the reasons I've resisted acquiring a Kindle or other electronic reader: black and white covers and illustrations! 

Occasionally the thing I like best about a book turns out to be the cover.  I had heard about Peter Carey's book Parrot and Olivier In America.  It was billed as a comic novel about de Touqueville's tour of the early American republic in the reviews I read.  My library's catalog used the phrase: "...irrepressibly funny new novel set in early nineteenth century America."  Right up my alley, I thought.  I like Mark Twain, Dave Barry, MaryJanice Davidson, Douglas Adams and Lindsay Davis to name a few authors who make me either laugh out loud, or at least bring a smile to my face.  But I obviously don't have the same sense of humor as the literary critics do.  Parrot and Olivier In America has been short listed for the Mann Booker prize.  If it wins, I'll just wonder if it was just me that failed to get the humor. 

The cover of this book, though, grabbed my attention.  Peeking out from behind the invitation card on the book jacket was the face of an 18th century gentleman.  The more I looked at this portrait, the more I thought this looked liked someone who would be a lot of fun at a dinner party; full of wit and humor, and not too hard on the eyes.  So I did my usual tracking on the internet and found that this was a self portrait of Maurice-Quentin Delatour.  If you moved in French court circles during the reign of Louis XV, you might have had your portrait done in pastels by Delatour.  The Wikipedia entry for Delatour contained external links including one to his portrait of Madame de Pompadour in the Louvre which turned out to be one of the best links I've ever come across: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/dossiers/detail_oal.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674119830&CURRENT_LLV_OAL%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198674119830&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500817&bmLocale=en
Check it out for yourself.  After reading this material about Delatour and his work, I think I was right about him as a dinner companion!