This brilliant historical novel captures and holds the attention from its rhythmic
opening sentence`I, Juan de Pareja, was born into slaveryall the way through to the
end . . . a splendid book, vivid, unforgettable.The New York Times Book Review

In the era of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Van Dyke, Spain had its own great painterDiego
Velsquez. His assistant is an African slave, Juan, who by helping his master in his studio
in the preparation of paints and stretching of canvasses becomes an artist himself. Self-taught
by watching his masters technique, he is torn between the need to keep his secretfor such
work as the creation of art is forbidden to slavesand the desire to reveal his own talents.

Johanna Ward (also known as Kate Reading) is an award-winning narrator and actor. She is a company member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre and has appeared on many other stages. She and her husband, actor-narrator Michael Kramer (Nick Bernard), live with their two children in the Washington, D.C. area.