English novelist Guy Boyd's publisher forces him, against his inclination, to write an extremely well-financed biography of the late Gabriel Brown, an eminent dealer in Old Masters. Though the project is of little interest to the writer, he does his duty, going so far as to move into Brown's manor in order to immerse himself in the man's life.
What starts as a mercenary exercise turns fiercely personal when a shocking series of revelations about Gabriel Brown's apparently paint-by-the-numbers career causes Boyd to question his own deep-seated beliefs about creative expression.
Written from the perspective of a biographer with a complicated relationships to his subject — who, in turn, drew equal parts inspiration and anguish from his own tormented muses — Old Masters is a refractive and reflective study of art and artists which asks, Who "owns" art? How do you define genius? What do you do when confronted with brilliance — do you surrender, or confront it head-on?
