‘The Vanishing Man’ is an innovative dual biography that becomes an unexpected detective story. Travelling from the Spanish and Papal courts of the 17th-century via the courtrooms of 19th-century Edinburgh and the garrets of Manhattan, it is a gripping depiction of how and why great works of art can affect us, even to the point of mania. Most movingly, it is an evocation of some of the greatest paintings of all time by an author who is an eloquent and passionate admirer, and brings us closer to the creation and appreciation of Vel?zquez’s works than ever before.