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Jul 28, 2008

Julie rated it:

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. More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Ryan rated it:

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. FASCINATI More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 23, 2008

Tom rated it:

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 origin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 25, 2009

Ron rated it:

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.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2008

Nancy rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 18, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

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 boo More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Nancy rated it:

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 boo More...

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Sep 22, 2011

Liane rated it:

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 ce More...

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Sep 01, 2011

JoLee rated it:

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/Collection...

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). More...

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Dec 04, 2009

Kathleen rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 15, 2009

Matt rated it:

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 t More...

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

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...

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Mar 10, 2011

Kavya rated it:

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" t More...

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Oct 20, 2009

Lisa rated it:

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 More...

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Sep 13, 2010

Kay rated it:

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 Ga More...

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Oct 23, 2009

Paul rated it:

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 u More...

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Aug 29, 2009

Adrian rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 20, 2009

Kate rated it:

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.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 23, 2009

Shauna rated it:

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. More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 24, 2011

Friends of rated it:

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...

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Jan 04, 2010

salinthebay rated it:

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. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 28, 2009

Jessie rated it:

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 i More...

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Feb 27, 2008

Sarah rated it:

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.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2011

Angela rated it:

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.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 15, 2009

Bryce rated it:

I truly enjoyed this book as I listened to it in my car to and from work. There was such a need to find out what had happened to this Caravaggio piece that I often found myself wanting to get into the car just to make another dent into the story and find that ultimate conclusion to the story.

It gets docked one star only because the pieces about the character's actual lives seemed unimportant, and I had a sense (after being told in certain areas of my own novels to trim of make ful More...

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Dec 05, 2010

Barbara rated it:

I really wanted to LOVE this book, but it just moved way to slowly. So many of my friends absolutely loved it, and I know it got so many great reviews. I had to put it down before I even was halfway through -- I just couldn't get into it. I'm going to give it another try at some point. I love Caravaggio, and the characters in the story were interesting enough. The story is also interesting, but something about the way it's written just could not hold my attention for some reason. I still have More...

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Jan 10, 2012

Sarah rated it:

I would never have assumed that this book was non-fiction had I not been told beforehand and I think that is a testament to its status as a good read. The writing was not stylish or flowery, but direct and concise. And yet, the story was riveting and I somehow found myself engrossed in a page turner about a painting from the 17th century. Harr does a great job in bringing the search for the "real" Caravaggio to life and shows the modern side of art history. I will admit, though, that I More...

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Sep 30, 2009

Don rated it:

A belligerent baroque artist, an old art history expert, an art restorer in Dublin, a missing painting for hundreds of years and 2 young art history students in Rome hot on the trail of some new information - and you have a formula for what reads as CSI: Art World.

In actuality, this book reads much like a CSI episode following the path to find the missing painting of Caravaggio called The Taking of Christ. Painted in 1602 the original went missing some years later - but with the twis More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 07, 2010

Geoff rated it:

I really enjoyed reading this. I am reading books and novels about art because I am writing a novel about art and I found this novel more instructive than entertaining. I still recommend it to anyone who is interested in art, art curation and restoration. I am not sure that I would recommend it as a novel. It is based on a true storie(s) and has a great bibliography (this has been invaluable), but the narrative is broken up in a few places with phrases like "...who later recalled that she s More...

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Sep 18, 2010

Lauryn rated it:

I feel like I don’t read as much non-fiction as I should, especially having a degree in both History and English. Unfortunately, most novels hold my attention better than most non-fiction (not all novels though; there have definitely been novels that have disappointed me in that respect). With that said, I was skeptical about The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr. Having finished it, I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be reading more non-fiction in the future.

For my full review, visit i More...

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