The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece

Great book if you like art and mysteries. I don't usually read non-fiction, but this one reads like a mystery. If you liked The Flanders Panel (fiction) you'll love this! You learn an incredible amount about history, painting, and art transactions. I have a whole new appreciation for what it takes to restore a painting and establish a provenance.

This is a great book. I could not put it down. Harr weaves a tale of real suspense despite the fact that most know the outsome: a great painting of Christ's betrayal by Caravaggio was discovered by accident in Ireland. The book is also offers interesting insights into the world of art historians and museums.

Like "six degrees of separation" everything is somehow connected. How my brother -- who once asked me to explain THE TAKING OF CHRIST during a visit to the National Gallery in Dublin -- came to be reading this book is one of the mysteries of being a sibling. (His curiosity always surprises me.) In any case, I swiped it away from him during a Xmas visit before I even realized it was the same painting we had seen in Dublin. What could be more fun than to read about the intense and passionate discovery of a lost Caravaggio painting, made by two young Italian art students just starting out?! It is engagingly written and reads like a detective novel, with many fulsome descriptions of all the players such as the difficult Italian woman who holds the old sales books for the original painting, the elderly art historian who guides the young Francesca on her painstaking discovery, the priests in whose home the painting is discovered, the patroness who bequeathed it to them, and above all the restorer who identifies THE TAKING OF CHRIST and is overwhelmed by its power, both as an art discovery and as a gem of prestige. There's enough information about the painter and man Caravaggio and the world in which he worked and played to entice even the least art history oriented reader.

Mr. Harr has produced a well-documented and ultimately readable book on a facinating topic. He reveals the culture and the turf wars that exist in the art community. He reveals the participants unsympathetically, revealing their faults alongside their brilliance. Excellent read, and highly recommended.

There are only two books that I have read in one sitting and both were written by Jonathon Harr. Suffice it to say that this man is the consummate storyteller. What is so striking about his narrative is his character development. In a true journalistic fashion, he has no qualms about truthfully recounting events and the behavior of those involved. Take Schlichtmann from "A Civil Action" - outwardly he is the hero of the piece but in the end, the reader is faced with the question as to his true motivation. This same reportage is presented in "Lost Painting" as the participants' recollections diverge. However, it is the events themselves that take center stage and the author is smart enough to realize this. I saw this painting some years ago but lacked the provenance provided by this book. I look forward to seeing it again in a completely new light.