Sara is a 17th-century still-life painter, mother, and wife who holds the rare distinction of being admitted to the art Guild of St. Luke. She expertly grinds pigments and balances her demanding household duties with her artistic talent. Grief-stricken after a sudden tragedy, she turns to painting as a private outlet, capturing an evocative winter scene that will outlive her by centuries.

Ellie is a resourceful, working-class Australian doctoral student in art history at Columbia University. Feeling isolated in the academic world due to her gender and background, she channels her frustration into her formidable technical skills. She carefully recreates a rare 17th-century Dutch painting, an action that closely connects her future to a wealthy art collector.

Marty is a wealthy, privileged patent lawyer living on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He takes profound pride in his Dutch heritage, which is heavily represented by an inherited collection of Golden Age paintings. Despite his financial success, he harbors a quiet unhappiness about his childless marriage and worries deeply about his lasting legacy.

Barent is Sara's husband and a recognized painter in 17th-century Amsterdam. Following a sudden family tragedy, he makes increasingly poor financial decisions, stubbornly focusing on an unsellable, morbid painting while ignoring the mounting debts that threaten his household's survival.

Rachel is Marty's socially awkward wife who lives in their opulent Fifth Avenue apartment. She struggles with severe depression stemming from multiple miscarriages, though her mood lightens mysteriously after the theft of her husband's prized, gloomy painting.

Kathrijn is the timid, seven-year-old daughter of Sara and Barent. Prone to night terrors, she briefly finds courage during a seaside outing before contracting the plague, an event that permanently alters her family's trajectory.

Gabriel is a greedy, shifty art dealer who commissions a physical copy of a rare 17th-century painting. He prioritizes profit over ethics, treating historical art strictly as a commodity to be exploited for maximum financial gain.

Meredith is a tenured art professor at Columbia University and Ellie's dissertation advisor. A pragmatic academic who secured her position through intense labor in a male-dominated field, she cautions her female students against challenging institutional norms too aggressively.

Pieter is a prosperous Dutch shipwright and an early ancestor of Marty de Groot. Typically viewing art as mere manual craftsmanship, he becomes uncharacteristically captivated by the emotional depth of a specific winter landscape, purchasing it for his family line.

Griet is a mourning mother who loses her entire family to a devastating plague. Her profound sorrow over the destruction of her town and her loved ones moves Sara deeply, inspiring the creation of a moving winter landscape memorial.

Hendrik is a somewhat standoffish museum courier who transports a 17th-century painting to Australia in the year 2000. He rigidly defends the authenticity of the artwork he escorts and eventually looks for ways to advance his stagnant academic career.

Tomas is a reliable house servant working for Cornelis Groen. He shows an eager interest in the camera obscura and offers steady, romantic support and praise for Sara's artistic endeavors when she moves to the estate.

Cornelis is an aging bachelor and landowner who holds the de Vos family's debt. Though he initially appears kindly and somewhat rambling, he proves to be a shrewd businessman intent on preserving the visual legacy of his properties.

Max is the director of the Art Museum of New South Wales in Sydney. He manages the complicated logistics of an important exhibition of Dutch Golden Age painters and casually handles the high-stress disputes over art authentication.

Helen is an art authentication specialist working in Sydney. She uses modern scientific tools, such as x-rays, to verify the origin, chemical composition, and hidden layers of classical paintings brought to the museum.

Gretchen is a secretary working at a Manhattan law firm. Originally from the Midwest, she maintains a bohemian lifestyle in Greenwich Village and shares a briefly intimate but unconsummated emotional exchange with her married employer.

Red is an obese private detective operating out of New Jersey. His brash demeanor and working-class style heavily clash with his wealthy client's affluent, polished sensibilities.

Clay is the managing partner at a Manhattan patent law firm. He forcefully removes a disruptive, vulgar party guest to protect his colleague's reputation and maintain order in high society.

Joost is the patronizing head of the Guild of St. Luke's in Amsterdam. He controls the local art market and enforces rigid rules about who can sell paintings, often outright dismissing the capabilities and rights of female artists.

Theophilus is the secretary of the Guild of St. Luke's. He oversees a discrete, somewhat shady auction of art and belongings, prioritizing the guild's financial recovery over legal transparency.

Father Barry is a high school art teacher in Australia who recognizes his student's raw talent. He helps her secure an internship but ultimately stops mentoring her after receiving a poor report from a commercial shop.

Jack is an art restoration shop owner who regularly overcharges clients or falsely claims paintings are beyond repair in order to steal and sell them. He dismisses young female talent in his workshop.

Michael is the co-owner of an Australian art restoration shop. He harshly dismisses a young female intern's skills based entirely on her background, an event that permanently damages her professional confidence.

Mrs. Zeller is an older woman who runs a bed and breakfast in the Netherlands. She inherited a significant collection of artwork from a distant relative, occasionally selling pieces to fund basic household repairs.