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Caravaggio's Angel
Dr. Reggie Lee, new at London’s National Gallery, is planning a small exhibition of three almost identical Caravaggio paintings when she discovers a fourth. One must be a forgery. That discovery detonates multiple murders. Like Flavia di Stefano in Iain Pears’ art history mysteries, Reggie is attractive, knowledgeable when it comes to art, and percipient when it comes to people with motives to defraud.
Ruth Brandon divides her time between London and France. She is working on the second title in this series. She previously published Surreal The Surrealists, 1917–1945 , a work of nonfiction.
Ruth Brandon divides her time between London and France. She is working on the second title in this series. She previously published Surreal The Surrealists, 1917–1945 , a work of nonfiction.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 13, 2015
Excellent reading.See synopsis
July 28, 2015
Probably 3 1/2 stars. I love everything Caravaggio so that was a bonus. Add some secrets from WWII and you've got an interesting scenario.
May 3, 2021
Just ok. Didn’t hold my interest and I skimmed ahead in a lot of areas toward the end. I bought it because of Caravaggio but there was so little in the book. It was a bit dull.
June 24, 2011
2.5 stars
i wanted to like this book. seriously. even though it was written by someone who was very interested in pursuing what happens to the woman who chooses career over family/children, there were parts of the horribly monikered reggie lee that definitely resonated. and i love art history. and i will probably read anything that works to even remotely tie in any art from 1200-1899 a.d. particularly the italian masters, the renaissance, or caravaggio (because where else might i get to see the word "chiaroscuro" thrown into my fiction...not that it actually showed up here, by the way). but overall brandon's prose just felt...clunky.
like, i get that you have to, as a writer, include details to set up a scene or create mood or tone or whatever. but sometimes, the text would be peppered with inane descriptions of a town that resembles miniature figures once owned/given by a decrepid aunt. not necessary. the plot is also slower moving than a spilled jar of molasses. and, tragically, the mystery just isn't so mysterious. it definitely read more like a slow french film than a gripping art mystery meant to take us to the depths of the creepy french countryside and back to the bustling streets of london. if you don't know who the big bad is, you really are a moron. and if you don't get that there's an issue with authenticity, you are an even larger moron. the most baffling and uncomfortable moments come from reggie's active sex life - which is punctuated by her poor choices in male journalists who seem more interested in her connections to big stories than her ladybits. the most pathetic is the married olivier (the french hottie with the body). actually, no. i take that back. for a woman that i picture as a frumpy art curator with bad hair and teeth, olivier is a major score. it's when she's sitting in the room with the big bad and first imagines him strangling her and then immediately after imagines his hands in her special lady place that the feminist in me died a little. joe is merely an exercise in tedium...much like the rest of this clunky first effort.
that all said, i didn't give up on the book. which i could have. which i take to mean that there was something there (not just my innate stubborness to continue through even the worst of books). i might be tempted to try brandon again...here's to a better mystery, better art, and better men.
i wanted to like this book. seriously. even though it was written by someone who was very interested in pursuing what happens to the woman who chooses career over family/children, there were parts of the horribly monikered reggie lee that definitely resonated. and i love art history. and i will probably read anything that works to even remotely tie in any art from 1200-1899 a.d. particularly the italian masters, the renaissance, or caravaggio (because where else might i get to see the word "chiaroscuro" thrown into my fiction...not that it actually showed up here, by the way). but overall brandon's prose just felt...clunky.
like, i get that you have to, as a writer, include details to set up a scene or create mood or tone or whatever. but sometimes, the text would be peppered with inane descriptions of a town that resembles miniature figures once owned/given by a decrepid aunt. not necessary. the plot is also slower moving than a spilled jar of molasses. and, tragically, the mystery just isn't so mysterious. it definitely read more like a slow french film than a gripping art mystery meant to take us to the depths of the creepy french countryside and back to the bustling streets of london. if you don't know who the big bad is, you really are a moron. and if you don't get that there's an issue with authenticity, you are an even larger moron. the most baffling and uncomfortable moments come from reggie's active sex life - which is punctuated by her poor choices in male journalists who seem more interested in her connections to big stories than her ladybits. the most pathetic is the married olivier (the french hottie with the body). actually, no. i take that back. for a woman that i picture as a frumpy art curator with bad hair and teeth, olivier is a major score. it's when she's sitting in the room with the big bad and first imagines him strangling her and then immediately after imagines his hands in her special lady place that the feminist in me died a little. joe is merely an exercise in tedium...much like the rest of this clunky first effort.
that all said, i didn't give up on the book. which i could have. which i take to mean that there was something there (not just my innate stubborness to continue through even the worst of books). i might be tempted to try brandon again...here's to a better mystery, better art, and better men.
May 26, 2012
Art, angels and mystery....a deadly combination..., May 23, 2012
Regina "Reggie" Lee is fourteen years old when she first sees the Angel. She is at the Louvre in Paris with her mother. In one of the Baroque paintings, the Angel "is naked to the waist, with pouting lips, gleaming muscular shoulders and black-feathered wings. He hangs in mid-flight in the picture's top left-hand corner, while from the lower right St Cecilia gazes over her shoulder into his eyes. She is dressed as a Roman artistocrat in a rich red silk dress, low-cut and trimmed at the shoulders with white fur...surrounded by the instruments that denote her identity: in her hands a lute, at her feet a violin and an open music book, behind her a harp. A mysterious ray, possibly the light of holiness, emanates from the...corner, suffusing the Angel and bathing St Cecilia in its glow."
Some years later Dr. Reggie Lee, art curator, starts her new position at the National Gallery of London and proceeds to gather the three copies of Caravaggio's "St Cecilia and the Angel" as a special exhibition. Two of the paintings are at prestiguous museums. And our protagonist follows a faint trail to find the third painting. She makes several trips to the French countryside and Meyrignac, the home of Madame Rigaut, the mother of Antoine Rigaut, the director of the Italian collection of the Louvre. Rigaut had suddenly revoked his agreement to exhibit the museum's copy.
Reggie finds the third Caravaggio...and a fourth copy, the original painting, appears at her desk in tow with proper provenance. When two bodies appear on the scene, she ignores them and recruits a journalist to help discover the forged painting. (Reggie has a penchant for journalists of the male variety.)
Brandon is a British historian, a biographer, and a novelist. In this novel, she blends fiction and fact to entertain her reader. Carlo Saraceni (1579-1620), the first of the Caravaggisti, painted "St Cecilia and the Angel" in 1610. It hangs in the Galleria Natzionale d'Arte Antica in Rome.
3 out of 5 stars, mildly entertaining
Regina "Reggie" Lee is fourteen years old when she first sees the Angel. She is at the Louvre in Paris with her mother. In one of the Baroque paintings, the Angel "is naked to the waist, with pouting lips, gleaming muscular shoulders and black-feathered wings. He hangs in mid-flight in the picture's top left-hand corner, while from the lower right St Cecilia gazes over her shoulder into his eyes. She is dressed as a Roman artistocrat in a rich red silk dress, low-cut and trimmed at the shoulders with white fur...surrounded by the instruments that denote her identity: in her hands a lute, at her feet a violin and an open music book, behind her a harp. A mysterious ray, possibly the light of holiness, emanates from the...corner, suffusing the Angel and bathing St Cecilia in its glow."
Some years later Dr. Reggie Lee, art curator, starts her new position at the National Gallery of London and proceeds to gather the three copies of Caravaggio's "St Cecilia and the Angel" as a special exhibition. Two of the paintings are at prestiguous museums. And our protagonist follows a faint trail to find the third painting. She makes several trips to the French countryside and Meyrignac, the home of Madame Rigaut, the mother of Antoine Rigaut, the director of the Italian collection of the Louvre. Rigaut had suddenly revoked his agreement to exhibit the museum's copy.
Reggie finds the third Caravaggio...and a fourth copy, the original painting, appears at her desk in tow with proper provenance. When two bodies appear on the scene, she ignores them and recruits a journalist to help discover the forged painting. (Reggie has a penchant for journalists of the male variety.)
Brandon is a British historian, a biographer, and a novelist. In this novel, she blends fiction and fact to entertain her reader. Carlo Saraceni (1579-1620), the first of the Caravaggisti, painted "St Cecilia and the Angel" in 1610. It hangs in the Galleria Natzionale d'Arte Antica in Rome.
3 out of 5 stars, mildly entertaining
October 8, 2008
CARAVAGGIO’S ANGEL (Ama. Sleuth-Dr. Reggie Lee-England/France- Cont) - Okay
Brandon, Ruth – 1st in series
Soho/Constable, 2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9781569475195
First Sentence: It wasn’t even my school fête.
National Gallery curator Dr. Reggie Lee is working on putting together a small exhibit of the three Caravaggio paintings “St. Cecilia and the Angel.” Although the Getty has agreed to lend their copy, the Louvre is now stalling and she cannot reach her contact there. While in France, she unexpectedly comes across the third painting. The owner grants permission for it to be shown but her son, a French Interior Minister, refuses.
Two sudden deaths and the appearance of a fourth copy of the painting make Reggie even more determined to uncover the truth both of the painting and of the deaths.
This book really is for the art lover. I appreciate art, but not enough to be entranced by this story. The mystery really is about the paintings and their history.
The characters, other than Juliette, the elderly lady, never came to life and I am so tired of characters, both male and female, being sexually attracted to each person they meet.
Sense of place was there, but so much more could have been done to make it real. The murder mystery is rather weak. The resolution was given but while the outcome for the person responsible was speculated, it was not actually realized.
For me, this was only an okay read and it’s unlikely I’ll read the next in the series.
Brandon, Ruth – 1st in series
Soho/Constable, 2008, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9781569475195
First Sentence: It wasn’t even my school fête.
National Gallery curator Dr. Reggie Lee is working on putting together a small exhibit of the three Caravaggio paintings “St. Cecilia and the Angel.” Although the Getty has agreed to lend their copy, the Louvre is now stalling and she cannot reach her contact there. While in France, she unexpectedly comes across the third painting. The owner grants permission for it to be shown but her son, a French Interior Minister, refuses.
Two sudden deaths and the appearance of a fourth copy of the painting make Reggie even more determined to uncover the truth both of the painting and of the deaths.
This book really is for the art lover. I appreciate art, but not enough to be entranced by this story. The mystery really is about the paintings and their history.
The characters, other than Juliette, the elderly lady, never came to life and I am so tired of characters, both male and female, being sexually attracted to each person they meet.
Sense of place was there, but so much more could have been done to make it real. The murder mystery is rather weak. The resolution was given but while the outcome for the person responsible was speculated, it was not actually realized.
For me, this was only an okay read and it’s unlikely I’ll read the next in the series.
July 13, 2014
Apart from featuring the wrong angel on the cover, it also boasts that it's 'introducing Reggie Lee, art curator and amateur detective' while the author blurb on the back flap informs us the author is, 'currently working on her second crime title featuring Dr Reggie Lee.'
Considering that was in 2008, and the author has returned to, and published, several non-fiction books since then, it's safe to say poor Reggie has been shelved, no pun intended.
If she was hoping to turn into the next Robert Langdon she's been sorely disappointed! As poorly written as the Da Vinci Code stuff is, there's still a cracking pace, and breathless adventure to them. Booking her ticket on the Eurostar, and picking up hire cars doesn't quite compare. The plot, is quite flimsy too, involving an exhibit of matching pictures, that is quickly shut down for no apparent reason, and a dodgy right wing French Minister, who Reggie, despite hating, seems to have a lady boner for - she likes a bad boy does our Reggie! *Yawn* Her ex has dumped her prior to the story's start and she just picks up with him again by the end, via her friend's husband, who is murdered during her 'detecting' but barely gets another thought after the affair is over.
Another 20p spent at a library sale, but again, not a keeper.
Considering that was in 2008, and the author has returned to, and published, several non-fiction books since then, it's safe to say poor Reggie has been shelved, no pun intended.
If she was hoping to turn into the next Robert Langdon she's been sorely disappointed! As poorly written as the Da Vinci Code stuff is, there's still a cracking pace, and breathless adventure to them. Booking her ticket on the Eurostar, and picking up hire cars doesn't quite compare. The plot, is quite flimsy too, involving an exhibit of matching pictures, that is quickly shut down for no apparent reason, and a dodgy right wing French Minister, who Reggie, despite hating, seems to have a lady boner for - she likes a bad boy does our Reggie! *Yawn* Her ex has dumped her prior to the story's start and she just picks up with him again by the end, via her friend's husband, who is murdered during her 'detecting' but barely gets another thought after the affair is over.
Another 20p spent at a library sale, but again, not a keeper.
November 27, 2010
Dr. Reggie Lee is trying to arrange a small exhibition at the National Gallery in London around three versions of "St Cecilia and the Angel" painted by Caravaggio. She knows one is at the Louvre and one at the Getty. Antoine Rigaut, curator at the Louvre had agreed to loan the painting, and then backed out. She goes to Paris to begin to chase down the third picture and to find out why Antoine was not loaning the painting after all. Antoine is not in his office, so she goes to his apartment and finds his nephew Manu. While there, she hears Antoine has committed suicide, and gets an invitation from Manu to visit his grandmother, Juliette, where she finds the third Angel painting and is given permission for the loan before Antoine's politician brother, Jean-Jacques tells her to stay away. Someone is trying to prevent the exhibition, and Reggie is on the warpath. After a couple of deaths and lots of sleuthing by Reggie, a fourth painting appears, requiring more sleuthing to figure out which is the "fake", why someone doesn't was the exhibition, and who is doing all the killing.
May 12, 2014
London, Paris, the south of France. The Louvre, The National gallery. And Caravaggio is a favorite of mine. Such intense colors and emotions! So, what's not to love?
Reggie Lee's weird relationships with men. I mean really! Her love scenes, and lustful thought scenes made me cringe.
But, getting back to the good parts. I liked her characters. I thought many of them were interesting and likeable. A passage i found touching was about her relationship with the old woman;
"Of course, in the world's eyes I barely knew her - how often had we met? Twice? three times? Nevertheless, by the end of that last afternoon she and I have become somethings more than just acquantances. Perhaps beacuse she was old, and not much time might be left to us, we'ld somehow bypassed the preliminaries. Paradoxically, the result had been something quite outside age: the person I'd met that afternoon had been simultaneously the old woman sitting before me and the audacious, resourceful girl whose story she was recounting. and now I'd never see her again."
Reggie Lee's weird relationships with men. I mean really! Her love scenes, and lustful thought scenes made me cringe.
But, getting back to the good parts. I liked her characters. I thought many of them were interesting and likeable. A passage i found touching was about her relationship with the old woman;
"Of course, in the world's eyes I barely knew her - how often had we met? Twice? three times? Nevertheless, by the end of that last afternoon she and I have become somethings more than just acquantances. Perhaps beacuse she was old, and not much time might be left to us, we'ld somehow bypassed the preliminaries. Paradoxically, the result had been something quite outside age: the person I'd met that afternoon had been simultaneously the old woman sitting before me and the audacious, resourceful girl whose story she was recounting. and now I'd never see her again."
May 22, 2009
I'm a sucker for detective stories/murder mystieries......as long as they're not too violent or weird.
This one has good European settings--cliched, but not overly so. I like the writing overall. The story itself started out well, but one-third of the way through I'm seeing some plot weakness, and I'm not feeling quite as sympathetic toward the main character as I'd like. For example, the relationship with her ex seems too contrived and thin. But I'm still looking forward to picking it up at the end of the day.
Near the end, i started skimming. Although the paragraph-level writing was pretty good, and some of the scenes were very enjoyable, I just couldn't buy into the plot and some of the characters' actions.
This one has good European settings--cliched, but not overly so. I like the writing overall. The story itself started out well, but one-third of the way through I'm seeing some plot weakness, and I'm not feeling quite as sympathetic toward the main character as I'd like. For example, the relationship with her ex seems too contrived and thin. But I'm still looking forward to picking it up at the end of the day.
Near the end, i started skimming. Although the paragraph-level writing was pretty good, and some of the scenes were very enjoyable, I just couldn't buy into the plot and some of the characters' actions.
December 20, 2008
Regina Lee--known as Reggie--works for London's National Gallery. She has the idea of bringing the three versions of Caravaggio's painting of Saint Cecilia and the Angel together, but the Louvre suddenly refuses to lend their copy to her. She discovers that the curator who refused her request has killed himself, and that his elderly mother owns the lost third copy. But that's before an art dealer in London shows her yet another copy. This is an intelligent, erudite story, but how much you like it will probably depend on how much you like Reggie, an independent woman with lamentable tastes in men.
May 9, 2010
A bit slow at first with lots of names to remember and keep track of but as I kept reading the plot thickened and I didn't want to put it down. The main character made some choices that I really cringed at; for such a supposedly intelligent person she really got herself into some messes - and because I questioned her judgement at times I wasn't sure if I really liked her all that much. I enjoyed the mystery of the three/no- four Caravaggio paintings - wish the author might have blended the history of the artist himself into the mystery a bit more since he was an interesting and rather colorful person himself. All in all definately worth the read!
May 26, 2009
While I liked both the story line and the writing style, I didn't like the main characters' underlying story line. While this may be the first in a series with further character development to follow, I didn't think the main character came across as a "strong woman", and not a woman of character. She starts out pining after her ex, jumps into a short relationship with a man who's wife she knows and likes, and the way she is drawn to the ruthless man of power in the story I almost would have thought the book was written by a man.
October 21, 2008
This is the first of a new art history mystery series. I liked it a lot and look forward to further books in the series. The protagonist is a curator of paintings at the National Gallery in London and the art references are great. Parts of this were a tad implausible, but overall I enjoyed it. The plot moved well and the references to the past and the provenance of the painting were fascinating.
January 26, 2009
I was hoping this would have the suspense of The DaVinci code, but it fell a little short. However, it is worth reading if you like mysteries. The artwork described in it is fun too, so if you are a museum goer you might like it.
August 10, 2010
An entertaining read with a pretty good mystery. I didn't love the main character and actually felt like throttling her on a few occasions, but I am realizing I don't have to like a character to enjoy the novel overall. I look forward to book two in the series.
December 8, 2010
I thought this took a while to get going and I wasn't unsure about the ending - I wasn't completely convinced by it. However I liked Ruth Brandon's writing style once she got going and the mystery she set up was intruiging. I'll definitely try the other books she intends to write in this series.
March 8, 2009
Pretty purple in the end. I did enjoy the inclusion of the French Surrealists, which I don't know much about. The rest was only passable.
April 13, 2009
Pretty good mystery. All about the Mona Lisa, a Caravaggio painting in the Louvre, French politicians and based heavily in Paris and London.
June 10, 2009
a good mystery - prtagonist is a curator at the National Gallery in London attempting to put together a show based on three Carravaggio works - good story and some art history stuff as well.
February 7, 2016
This is a new mystery series by Ruth Brandon featuring Reggie Lee London National Gallery art curator/amateur detective. It was a bit improbable but entertaining.
January 6, 2010
For those who enjoy art, Paris and London, a behind the scene glimpse into the international art world.
May 21, 2013
I really really really enjoyed this book. It had everything; mystery, romance, a great deal of art and information about many facets of art. Very enjoyable.
July 18, 2013
Read also The Lost Painting. Together you will have all the Italian Baroque. Good summer reads.
August 2, 2013
Enjoyed reading about London, Paris and the south of France and about Caravaggio. The Mystery was a little lame
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews