Set in 1760 France, Marianne arrives at an isolated seaside estate to secretly paint the wedding portrait of Héloïse, a young woman who has recently left the convent and is about to enter a chattel marriage.

Set in 1961 when Kempton Bunton, a 60-year-old taxi driver, stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery's history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television for free to the elderly. What happened next became the stuff of legend. Only 50 years later did the full...