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35th out of 305 books
—
489 voters
The Lost Painting
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...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
November 7th 2006
by Random House Trade Paperbacks
(first published October 25th 2005)
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Absurdly readable, this book is candy for anyone who loves or appreciates the scavenger hunt of archival historical research. If you are particularly into Italian history, this book is the equivalent of a snickers bar perfectly cooled in the refrigerator.
If you feel meh about the tedious, meticulous process of historical research, despite its finally coming together in spectacularly satisfying ways, you will really really really not like this book. I mean, seriously, don't bother. Because that i...more
If you feel meh about the tedious, meticulous process of historical research, despite its finally coming together in spectacularly satisfying ways, you will really really really not like this book. I mean, seriously, don't bother. Because that i...more
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Have you ever read a "popular book" (i.e., a bestseller) with an intended audience so niche it actually gets stuck in a demographic ditch? This is the poster book for that effect. A book so enthralled with minutiae it should contain a warning from the surgeon general, "Note: unless an art history major, do not listen to this book-on-cd while operating a motor vehicle."
I did enjoy parts of it--especially the section about art preservation and repair. FASCINATING stuff. But then again, I'm a huge...more
I did enjoy parts of it--especially the section about art preservation and repair. FASCINATING stuff. But then again, I'm a huge...more
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Oct 10, 2012
arcobaleno
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
arte,
letteraturastraniera
Non è una sola storia, come fa sospettare il titolo: non è solo quella del ritrovamento a Dublino della Cattura di Cristo, un "Caravaggio" di cui si erano perse le tracce. Tutta la prima metà del libro è infatti un’altra storia a sé, altrettanto "curiosa" e interessante: il confronto tra due San Giovanni Battista romani, apparentemente identici, quello conservato alla Galleria Doria Pamphilj e quello rinvenuto in tempi molto recenti e oggi esposto ai Musei Capitolini. Ho avuto come l’impressione...more
Wow! It's been so long since I have read a book that dominated my thoughts for a couple of days; a book that I thought was amazing. Luckily for me I just read The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr. Jonathan Harr is mostly known for writing A Civil Action, which I enjoyed, but didn't find that it left me breathless the way that The Lost Painting did. The painting referred to in the title is The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio. Until the early 90s copies of the painting had been found, but the origina...more
It's like The DaVinci Code, only well-written and true! In other words, it's nothing like the DaVinci Code. Harr personalizes the dry world of academic art historians as best he can, by following the principals in this story of a 'lost' Carravaggio recently-found in
Ireland. I cannot go so far as to say he 'spices it up,' so the appeal of this book may be limited to art lovers only.
Ireland. I cannot go so far as to say he 'spices it up,' so the appeal of this book may be limited to art lovers only.
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Poor Jonathon Harr! While this book was interesting, it in no way was even close to "A Civil Action". Now I know that was a really tough act to follow and he really tried to make it suspenseful but you really can't get the same drama from a book about a painting as you can from a cancer cluster killing people and the evil industry polluting the water supply. It was interesting in that, and I can't believe I am admitting this, I had never heard of Caravaggio. Now of course I read that name everyw...more
As a trained art historian hardened and cynical because of books like the Da Vinci Code, I wasn't expecting too much from this book, but I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, it is not a novel, although written to appeal to a reader's sense of "story." If you like Caravaggio, art restoration, seventeenth-century art history, or want a taste of how petty the scholarly art world can be, do give this book a look. If those kinds of intrigues are NOT up your alley, the style of this book may help...more
Se un testo inglese ha un unico autore e due traduttori; se la sua prima parte risulta resa in un italiano sciatto e irritante, quasi illegibile, mentre la seconda fila via bene, il sospetto che uno dei due traduttori abbia sbagliato mestiere è forte. Anche la misura dei "tempi" e dei "modi" dell'editoria, oggi, è più chiara e percepibile.
L'argomento è interessantissimo, e attuale, viste le recenti celebrazioni dei 400 anni dalla morte del sommo pittore milanese. La storia dei retroscena che po...more
L'argomento è interessantissimo, e attuale, viste le recenti celebrazioni dei 400 anni dalla morte del sommo pittore milanese. La storia dei retroscena che po...more
This story would have made a good long article in the New Yorker. As a book, I feel there was a lot of padding and building to moments that proved anticlimactic. "The Lost Painting" tells of the search for a lost Caravaggio, "The Taking of Christ," through the efforts of a pair of Italian graduate students and later an Italian restorer working in Dublin. The two students, Francesca Cappelletti and Laura Testa, go through ancient records to find evidence of the painting's creation in the early ye...more
If you like Renaissance art, art history, Italian history, an archivist's treasure hunt or just a good, different kind of read, then this book is for you. I lived in Italy for a year and actually saw this painting on view at a bank in Naples in 2010. I'd fallen in love with Italian painting and the stories about their creation and history. So when this book came out it went on my list. I just got to reading it and it brought back so many places and paintings I'd seen.
But about the book. One of...more
But about the book. One of...more
When discarding a Book Club Bag last week, I decided to [belatedly] read the 'Lost Painting.' Sue had recommended it for a Bag. The book is for the general public but will appeal greatly to art history or Caravaggio fans and is a really fast read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Harr follows two Italian art history grad students who, while working on a project, go to the Mattei family archives and search their estate inventories from the early 1600s. It is a painstaking task in a gloomy cellar but they...more
Harr follows two Italian art history grad students who, while working on a project, go to the Mattei family archives and search their estate inventories from the early 1600s. It is a painstaking task in a gloomy cellar but they...more
Jonathan Harr's The Lost Painting chronicles the events leading to the discovery, in 1993, of a lost painting by Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ. Scholars had known of the painting and many copies existed, yet Caravaggio's original canvas was lost for hundreds of years.
http://www.nationalgallery.ie/Collect...
I know I am an art history nerd, but I found this book incredible suspenseful even though almost all the big discoveries were unearthed in archives (tedious work). The book recounts the con...more
http://www.nationalgallery.ie/Collect...
I know I am an art history nerd, but I found this book incredible suspenseful even though almost all the big discoveries were unearthed in archives (tedious work). The book recounts the con...more
Dec 04, 2009
Kathleen
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone interested in Caravaggio and his art and get a chance to see his paintings in Italy
Recommended to Kathleen by:
Boston Globe and New York Times
For my trip to Italy, I picked up this book - recommended by both the Boston Globe and NY Times. The author of The Civil Action - a great read. The lost painting is "The Taking of Christ" - an account of how, in 1990, the original was found. One of the key people is Francesca Cappelletti, a 24-year old graduate student at the University of Rome. She cites a church in Rome that owns Caravaggio paintings - three paintings about St. Matthew. We visited this church to see the paintings - tucked in a...more
Harr's book is an account of the recovery of a Caravaggio painting, "The Taking of Christ," that had been missing for several centuries. Various copies of the painting existed throughout the world, but all Caravaggio scholars in the world agreed that none were done by Caravaggio's hands. The Lost Painting traces the discovery of the original painting, following two Italian art history scholars and a painting conservator as they all but stumble upon it.
It's a fascinating topic, but Harr does it a...more
It's a fascinating topic, but Harr does it a...more
Jonathan Harr did, I thought, a wonderful job of vividly conveying the excitement and drive of those involved in the search for (Francesca Cappelletti) and discovery of Caravaggio's lost painting (Sergio Benedetti). And if the author sometimes sounded a little detached and removed from what he was relating in the book, he more than made up for it with his clear and precise descriptions of scenes and characters -- I thought that his portrayal of the slightly gaga Marchesa was priceless; and reall...more
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 his excellent investigative reporting and storytelling skills to deliver a fast-paced account of art historical research, from the interpersonal backstabbing to the painstaking process of cleaning the
...more
This is one of the first non fiction books I have read that I was able to read as quickly as I would a book of fiction. The book draws you into the lives of the people involved with the quest for the lost Caravaggio painting and efficiently charts the journey and timeline of recovering the painting. It was interesting to see what this discovery meant to the art world as well as to gain an insight into each person who was involved with the discovery and into the "Caravaggio disease" that has spre...more
My mom suggested this book, after I reviewed 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 Springville Library, I purchased it used for a few dollars.
This is not historical fiction, as is Girl, but history written so well that you think it must be fiction. I really like how Harr brought alive the researc...more
This is not historical fiction, as is Girl, but history written so well that you think it must be fiction. I really like how Harr brought alive the researc...more
An interesting blend of art history and detective story, author Jonathan Harr focuses on the handful of scholars, including two students, who found evidence of the lost painting in question, Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ." He concentrates most of all on Francesca Capelletti, who along with another art history, Laura Testa, was most responsible for doing the tedious legwork of tracking what had happened to the lost painting. Another man, an art restorer working at the National Gallery in Dub...more
Jonathan Harr's "The Lost Painting" could be subtitled "Art History for Dummies" only because it takes the reader into a rather arcane and obsessive universe and helps to understand it. But this is a much better book than that. Harr offers up a dramatic, emotionally-charged narrative full of compelling characters -- and it all really happened.
"The Lost Painting" describes how two Italian graduate students in the 1990s set a search in motion that wound up in the discovery of a long-lost masterpie...more
"The Lost Painting" describes how two Italian graduate students in the 1990s set a search in motion that wound up in the discovery of a long-lost masterpie...more
Braided narrative nonfiction: 17th century Italian Baroque paintings, art historians, archival research, and lurking in the background like pentimento, the enigmatic artist, Caravaggio. I found myself thinking about him a lot. How he painted a bed sheet, then flipped it over and ate his lunch on top of it. How could such a brutish person be capable of creating exquisite art full of light and nuance that still captivates today? Should his lack of civilized behavior (he was a brawler and killed so...more
This book gets 3 stars because Caravaggio went through all the trouble of living a fascinating life. Harr wrote a 2 star book about him. I chose to split the difference.
For those not familiar with the life of Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Caravaggio, this is a passable lintroduction. Harr has an ambitious narrative device but fails to pull it off. The style blends the staid authority of non-fiction writing with the immediacy of narrative, complete with characterization, scenery, and even pl...more
For those not familiar with the life of Renaissance artist Michelangelo di Caravaggio, this is a passable lintroduction. Harr has an ambitious narrative device but fails to pull it off. The style blends the staid authority of non-fiction writing with the immediacy of narrative, complete with characterization, scenery, and even pl...more
Past the introduction where you get back ground on the importance of Carravagio, the small number of his paintings that are still around and introducing the big players who continue to look for paintings in obscure spots, it heats up as the lost painting gets found and revealed to the public. Lots about the art collecting world, the scholars, and the negotiations around displaying something like this.
My friend Judi gave this book to me in the act of clearing out her shelves, so I came into it with no expectations about anything. I was totally riveted from the start. I didn't even realize it was non-fiction until some of the scholars' names started sounding very familiar. It reads well as a story either way, but once I knew it was a true story, I was even more hooked. I would probably rate this book higher than some people may think it deserves simply because I just couldn't put it down. I al...more
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Two Italian art students Francesca and Laura, the research team, and their tedious work of the painstaking labors in a musty basement was brought to life in finding Caravaggio's Lost painting. Caraviggio, a creative, eccentric, artist with a short fuse. He was a genius and mudererer, always in trouble with the law and somewhat crazy. His paintings were full of color, light and beauty. They paralled his life. He was an artist who thought "outside the box".
The art restorer Sergio Benneditto who d...more
The art restorer Sergio Benneditto who d...more
Wow! It's been so long since I have read a book that dominated my thoughts for a couple of days; a book that I thought was amazing. Luckily for me I just read The Lost Painting. The painting referred to in the title is The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio. Until the early 90’s copies of the painting had been found, but the original painting had disappeared. Had it been destroyed, or was it lying in an attic somewhere, forgotten? The book follows several people, the octogenarian pre-eminent Caravag...more
An art historian friend who is doing research on Titian, recommended this book to me knowing that I am a lover of Caravaggio et al. I was apprehensive at first wondering if it was going the way of the Da Vinci Code, but was delighted to discover it did not. It is for real!
The Lost Painting is exactly what the title depicts - the lost 17th century painting, The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio, its discovery in an SJ Irish abbey and its restoration a the National Gallery of Ireland. Sounds like a t...more
The Lost Painting is exactly what the title depicts - the lost 17th century painting, The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio, its discovery in an SJ Irish abbey and its restoration a the National Gallery of Ireland. Sounds like a t...more
This was a very educational book. I never knew quite how complicated the art world was before reading this. And once I found out it was based on a true story, it became even more interesting.
I think the author did a good job weaving a detailed tale from his background interviews. The two "halves" of the story - finding the background documentation vs. finding the painting itself - really go to show how interconnected and yet distant every little event in our lives really is.
I found a lot of pa...more
I think the author did a good job weaving a detailed tale from his background interviews. The two "halves" of the story - finding the background documentation vs. finding the painting itself - really go to show how interconnected and yet distant every little event in our lives really is.
I found a lot of pa...more
This is an amazingly detailed account of the finding of a Caravaggio painting that has been of the grid for 600 years. Caravaggio was such a character (read: murderer, fugitive, all around hothead) and his biography is expertly interwoven in the narrative. You don't have to love art to love this book.
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i absolutely loved his book, a civil action (if you saw the movie, which was terrible, the book is far better), so i'm hoping this one will be just as intriguing. loved it! i learned so much, so even though it wasn't a page turner, i highly recommend it.
1 like · like · see review
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