The Poison Portrait

"The Poison Portrait" is an art-historical thriller in which the fate of a doctoral student in art history intersects with that of her subject: Gabrielle d'Estrées, Henry IV's favorite, who died under strange circumstances a week before her coronation as Queen of France. A series of anonymous and enigmatic portraits seem to hold clues to the mystery surrounding her sudden death and to a perfidious conspiracy.

Through the character of Camille, a doctoral student at the prestigious École du Louvre who increasingly identifies with Gabrielle's fate, the fate of a 16th century favorite sacrificed to political power interests repeats itself in the art-world of the present day. Power, love, corruption and Camille's paranoia drive this art-historical thriller as she enters a world far more dangerous than the world of painting.