<![CDATA[The Lost Painting]]>

false <![CDATA[The Lost Painting]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255963854m/27398.jpg 27398 7 An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries. The artist was Caravaggio, a master of the Italian Baroque. He was a genius, a revolutionary painter, and a man beset by personal demons. Four hundred years ago, he drank and brawled in the taverns and streets of Rome, moving from one rooming house to another, constantly in and out of jail, all the while painting works of transcendent emotional and visual power. He rose from obscurity to fame and wealth, but success didn’t alter his violent temperament. His rage finally led him to commit murder, forcing him to flee Rome a hunted man. He died young, alone, and under strange circumstances. Caravaggio scholars estimate that between sixty and eighty of his works are in existence today. Many others–no one knows the precise number–have been lost to time. Somewhere, surely, a masterpiece lies forgotten in a storeroom, or in a small parish church, or hanging above a fireplace, mistaken for a mere copy. Prizewinning author Jonathan Harr embarks on an spellbinding journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ–its mysterious fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive, she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle. Told with consummate skill by the writer of the bestselling, award-winning A Civil Action, The Lost Painting is a remarkable synthesis of history and detective story. The fascinating details of Caravaggio’s strange, turbulent career and the astonishing beauty of his work come to life in these pages. Harr’s account is not unlike a Caravaggio painting: vivid, deftly wrought, and enthralling. ". . . Jonathan Harr has gone to the trouble of writing what will probably be a bestseller . . . rich and wonderful. . .in truth, the book reads better than a thriller because, unlike a lot of best-selling nonfiction authors who write in a more or less novelistic vein (Harr's previous book, A Civil Action, was made into a John Travolta movie), Harr doesn't plump up hi tale. He almost never foreshadows, doesn't implausibly reconstruct entire conversations and rarely throws in litanies of clearly conjectured or imagined details just for color's sake. . .if you're a sucker for Rome, and for dusk. . .[you'll] enjoy Harr's more clearly reported details about life in the city, as when--one of my favorite moments in the whole book--Francesca and another young colleague try to calm their nerves before a crucial meeting with a forbidding professor by eating gelato. And who wouldn't in Italy? The pleasures of travelogue here are incidental but not inconsiderable." --The New York Times Book Review "Jonathan Harr has taken the story of the lost painting, and woven from it a deeply moving narrative about history, art and taste--and about the greed, envy, covetousness and professional jealousy of people who fall prey to obsession. It is as perfect a work of narrative nonfiction as you could ever hope to read." --The Economist From the Hardcover edition. 1054249 2005 The Lost Painting total:988|5:160|4:415|3:316|2:88|1:9| 988 3593 1411 246 4 2 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 17:54:35 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 06:16:20 -0700 2008
If you feel meh about the tediou...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Dec 01 14:57:08 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 04 10:50:19 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Mar 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 19 16:18:34 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 23 16:35:56 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Dec 25 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 25 12:00:53 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 12:00:53 -0800 2009 Ireland. I cannot go so far...more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Jan 28 21:19:19 -0800 2008 Thu Apr 10 16:06:21 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Aug 18 12:09:02 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 12:15:16 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 21:36:17 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 20:41:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:36:48 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:36:48 -0800 2009 After his award-winning A Civil Action (1995), about a civil lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer, Harr set high expectations. Critics agree that Lost Painting, on which he first reported in the New York Times Magazine, is gripping__but not as enthralling as his legal thriller. Still, Harr uses h...

more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Oct 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 08:53:15 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 08:38:37 -0700 2009 Girl with a Pearl Earring and said, "Now we just need a good book written about Caravaggio! Wait, that would probably be too R-rated for me!" She asked me whether I had read The Lost Painting. I hadn't, and since it wasn't available at the Spr...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 19 13:56:36 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 15:19:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 29 14:24:21 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 14:29:34 -0700 2009 For those not familiar with the life of Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Caravaggio, this is a passable lintroduction. Har...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jul 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 12:45:47 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 12:46:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Oct 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 08 11:35:26 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 28 06:45:22 -0700 2009
I think the author did a good job weaving a detailed tale from his background interviews. The tw...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Feb 27 18:58:50 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 19:03:03 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Apr 28 13:51:10 -0700 2009 Fri May 15 12:18:57 -0700 2009 ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Sep 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 06 16:11:37 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 30 05:10:18 -0700 2009
In actuality, this book...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 08:08:15 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 11:08:33 -0700 2009 The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio. This brief mention of one of Caravaggio's lesser works reminded me that I had a hot little number sitting on my bookshelf titled The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr. The book details the loosing and f...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 01 22:11:50 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 08 21:22:14 -0800 2009 1
Harr did a good job of crafting the mystery and explaining art restoration techniques for art novices to understand.

One small nitpick: Not being ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 17 15:10:40 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 02 15:36:52 -0800 2009
Jonathan Harr's "The Lost Painting," a step-by-step account of the history and discovery of Caravaggio's long-missing "The Taking of Christ," was a ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Oct 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 23 12:03:44 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 05 12:18:45 -0700 2009
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