Quattrocento

by James N. McKean

Matt O’Brien, an assistant curator and art restorer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has always been passionate about the Italian Renaissance. But when he discovers a long-neglected portrait of a beautiful woman among the museum’s miles of storage bins, he becomes obsessed--and not only because he suspects that the painting is by Leonardo da Vinci. Something about the mysterious woman’s exquisite face stirs his memory, and when Matt finds himself spun across the centuries into Quattrocento Italy, where he arrives perfectly attired in 15th century clothing, he appears to be free to pursue her.

A magically woven, richly detailed debut, Quattrocento tells an unforgettable tale of art, and love, and the unexpected places places where they meet.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel, Art, Fantasy, Romance, Italy

307 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 1999

About the author

I’ve been a violinmaker since 1973, when I was among the first group of students at the first school for the craft in America, started that year in Salt Lake City. After graduating I returned to New York – I’d grown up north of the city, in Chappaqua – to work under an expert in restoration and setup. While learning restoration I continued making instruments. Researching varnish recipes led me back to the Renaissance and methods of surface preparation and painting materials. I had by this time begun writing for Strings Magazine on various aspects of the violin. An article on the 20th anniversary of the school in Salt Lake was my first experience beyond technical writing. Character, dialog, the arc of a story; I was hooked. Thousands of pages later, several manuscripts begun, finished, set aside; and then a fortuitous introduction to an agent led to active commercial interest in something I had written. Nothing came of it, but it was the same flash of insight I had experienced back when I was a student of Russian and had read an article about a violinmaker’s apprenticeship in Europe: yes, people do make violins. And now, yes: books do get published. I had grown up in a literary family – my grandfather was an author, my father an editor and writer, my mother a librarian – and yet the actual world of publishing had seemed as distant as Utah had, when I had first dropped out of college and headed west for an improbable future.

At the same time that I was deep into the books and old manuscripts on the methods of the old Italian artists I met an amateur violinist who became not just a client but a close friend. A quantum physicist, he would at our occasional lunches tell me stories of studying with Neils Bohr and Walter Heisenberg. I began to read general histories of science, and then physics; and then the two worlds of physics and art converged, and the idea for Quattrocento was born. In the process of the novel coming to fruition I discovered what a rare combination of hard work and pure luck are required, and more, what the world of publishing looked like from the inside.

The process is so all-consuming, though, that I had to set my tools aside. I was very glad to get back to the bench. I continued writing about fiddles for the magazine, but my plans for the next novel continually got postponed: there was always a set of wood beckoning. And – the truth? – Writing is just very, very hard work. And solitary. More so than making fiddles; when you write, you leave this world for another. Making violins, though, places you in the center of this world: there is no place better to be than listening to Lester Young or Benny Goodman and carving a scroll. Unless it’s watching your son play baseball or walk onto a stage.

And then a close friend whom we had gone to violinmaking school with succumbed to leukemia. Along with another friend he and I had been making a set of three violins; using identical sets of wood and patterns, we were curious to see how different the results would be. We finished Art’s violin; and then decided to make a cello in his memory and give it to Juilliard. Quattrocento had been about love, the good old American popular song kind; but I wanted to somehow, if I could, draw a portrait of a deeper and more abiding affection: friendship. The result is Between the Notes, which I’m publishing with Northshire Books.

And meanwhile, I go on making violins. Cellos, mostly; I just finished a 5-string cello for Carter Brey, the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, so that he could play the Bach 6th solo suite as originally written at a recital next month. My shop is upstairs at our house, looking out at the barn and indoor ring; my girlfriend has an active riding business – arcadiafarminc.com – in Yorktown Hts. I’ve been hearing for almost half a century that both publishing and classical music are dying. That must be in one of those parallel worlds; in this one, they’re doing just fine.

Reviews

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

So. Usually I open a book with a completely open mind. But not this book. This book, I was bound and determined to like. And I did like it - good story concept, and it kept me reading until the very end (even during period breaks of an NHL game, it held my interest). But it has some flaws, too.

The concept is great - an assistant curator and art restorer at the Met finds a portrait that he knows is something special and as he spends hours restoring it, he falls in love with the subject of the portrait. It turns out, the portrait is a previously undiscovered Leonardo da Vinci and Matt - the art restorer - is somehow spun across the centuries until he arrives in quattrocento Italy, free to pursue Anna, the countess in the portrait. I loved the concept - two people altering reality to be with each other - and in the hands of a more experienced writer, it would have been fantastic. And the segments where Matt discusses art theory and music with various knowledgable people are very interesting - those were my favorite parts of the book. But McKean is a master violinmaker, not a master novelist (yet). So the novel had some flaws.

The major flaw, in my opinion, was that I was never sure how the story got from one point to another. First, Matt is in his office, then he's suddenly at a party. He passes out - whether from too many martinis or from some kind of wonky wrinkle in the time-space continuum is unclear - and when he wakes up, his girlfriend is mad at him. Apparently he did something that upset her while he was out of it. That must not be important to the story, though, because it's never mentioned again. Turn page, and Matt is in love with Anna, who just a paragraph ago was buried under layers of dust and soot and oil and all kinds of goop. How he restored the painting and his actually falling in love with her is never explained. Just - my girlfriend is mad at me - and then boom! I love a painting. It didn't make sense. Then the painting is suddenly revealed to the world, poor Matt can't handle it, he goes into a room in the Met to collect his thoughts, and poof! he's in Renaissance Italy. How he got there? No clue. It had something to do with vanishing points, and vibrations, and light refraction - that's all I could figure out. Of course, he doesn't really know how he got there either, but he seems to function just fine in five-centuries-ago. The love story between Matt and Anna also seems rushed. First, she barely notices him, then he stalks her a little, then suddenly they are painting buddies and then he gets booted back to the twentieth century and she's inscribing "love conquers all" in Latin on the back of her paintings. Okaaaaay. The story definitely would have benefited from more development.

But in the end, I guess all that matters is I kept reading because I wanted to see how things turned out. It was a fun story. That makes a debut novel a success, right? I have to say though, at the end of the day, the one thought that's really sticking in my mind from this book is this one: how do I get my hands on a McKean cello?

[Madi Badger · Rating 5 out of 5]

ended up absolutely loving this book. shoutout to the rory gilmore reading challenge for another banger

[Vanessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, yet another book in which I was excited about the concept and wholly disappointed by the delivery. Mr. McKean is not a bad writer; each of the individual scenes in the book are very well written, very sensory accessible and it's obvious he's done a lot of research and/or knows a lot about many many different topics.
The problem is that he doesn't string those great scenes together into a flowing, coherent narrative. There's no story. I mean, I get the plot: Art restorer falls in love with painting subject, somehow travels back in time to find himself at her house, falls in love with her more, there's a bad guy but I'm not sure why he's bad, there's a conflict but it's fixed and everyone lives happily ever after. But it's all disjointed and stuff just happens and there are a lot of big words.
I just wasn't able to sink my teeth into it.

[Lauren McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the concept of this book was fascinatingly cool to me, the transitions through time were jumpy and hard to follow, still a cool novel though

[bookyeti · Rating 2 out of 5]

A noteworthy first attempt



Expert violinmaker, McKean, ventures into new territory with his ambitious debut novel, Quattrocento - a story of fine art and love, cleverly disguised as time-travel conceit.At the heart of the story is Matt O’Brian, an art restorer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who struggles with the realization that he has revealed a never before discovered quattrocento* masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci; a painting of a beautiful young woman, who O’Brian names “Anna”. The painting and the subject become the focus of his obsession, and O’Brian fears its discovery, as he does not wish to be parted from it. In the meantime, the Metropolitan Museum has finished the restoration of Federico’s Studiolo, an ancient study, a place O’Brian is often drawn to for quiet reflection.

Unwilling to psychologically part with the painting that he has worked tirelessly on, O’Brian ultimately loses himself to the mysterious allure of the studiolo, and finds himself unwittingly whisked across five centuries to the quattrocento to be with the painting’s beautiful subject, Anna. There he discovers she is a Contessa and also an artist, married to an elderly man. It is not long before O’Brian also encounters her dangerous suitor, a covetous knight named Leandro, who plunges the art curator into a treacherous love triangle, vying for the Contessa’s affections. After falling in love and sharing their affection with a discreet kiss, Matt is parted from Anna, and is returned to present day.

O’Brian, desperate to return to Anna summons the aid of some ambiguous quantum mechanics, and is somehow jettisoned back to the quattrocento to pursue her again freely. Her elderly husband has since passed away, and most importantly the jealous suitor Leandro is (somewhat too conveniently) gone.

McKean’s imaginative Quattrocento is a sprawling tale that is more fantasy than it is drama. The author’s artistic background serves him well throughout the novel, as details regarding the beautiful world of art are truly breathtaking. Several passages meld “castle in the sky” whimsy and reality as O’Brian loses himself inside various art works. And yet, throughout the novel, it seems as though McKean has bitten off a bit more than he can chew with regards to physics and the idea of time travel, as the descriptions become often tedious and lack a lot of logic. But his efforts do deserve at least a nod of appreciation from art and book lovers alike.

[Bea · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea behind this novel is excellent- an art restorator falls in love with a woman in a Renaissance painting, then finds himself transported back to her time. However, as much as I enjoyed the premise of the story, I was dissatisfied with how the author developed it. Something about his writing style didn't click with me, and I couldn't get past the knowledge that this was a fictional story. Somehow, I just didn't feel like I was in the Renaissance with flesh-and-blood characters. I also didn't really understand how it was that the protagonist actually traveled through time. There just wasn't enough character and plot development to make me believe that, somehow, this could have happened.

[Tamsin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about Italy, love, art history and time travel.

[Katerina · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept that was bogged down by unnecessary details and flat characters. I really did appreciate how art and design was discussed but once it made it to the actual “meat” of the story, I was already bored. The characters were one sided and a bit silly. His wife left him because she was jealous of a painting? Seriously? This book like staring at a wooden plank.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general, I enjoyed this tale of time-travel and art history set in modern-day New York City and fifteenth-century Tuscany. The glimpses behind the scenes of the art world are interesting, the story of Matt's obsession with a woman depicted in an old painting is very romantic and intriguing, and there's just enough danger thrown in to keep everything mysterious and exciting. But I sometimes had trouble with the time-warp elements of the story – the main character would just suddenly fade out of one setting and appear in the other. There seemed to be a suggestion that the time displacement had to do with vanishing points and certain sounds or vibrations, but I would have welcomed a little more explanation of why or how it all occurred. Also, Matt seems to fit into that Renaissance world a little too easily, even for someone who's spent most of his career studying its art and culture. Things happen very quickly and without much explanation in that past world – one minute Matt is just encountering Anna for the first time, they have a brief conversation about a painting, and suddenly they're soul mates sharing rather intimate moments in her private studio. Would a woman from an aristocratic Italian family have behaved so freely with a stranger in fifteenth century Italy? I think it's doubtful.

The book is a pretty fast read, although I found the prose style a little hard to wade through at times. McKean has obviously done a huge amount of research on art and the history and culture of Renaissance Italy, and it shows – but sometimes not in a good way. A lot of the discussions about art begin to sound like study notes, after a while. McKean is actually a musician and instrument-maker, and the book includes some discussions of music which are probably fascinating to other musicians, but seemed a little dry to me.

But as I said, even with these reservations I still enjoyed the book. It was McKean's first novel, so I'm hoping for better things in the future. He's definitely a writer worth a second try.

[Anna Karras · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written book. James McKean really paints pictures with words and gorgeously turned phrases. This is the story of Matt O'Brien, who restores art for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When he comes upon a badly darkened painting tucked in the corner of the Met's archives, he has no idea how important it will become. A young woman, whom he names, "Anna" (good choice, man!) begins to emerge from the years of grime and mistreatment. But what is astonishing is that it seems to him and everyone that a new works has been discovered by none other than the great master, Leonardo da Vinci. Even more astonishing is it seems that Matt is falling in love with the woman in the painting, much to the dismay of his girlfriend, Sally. And when Matt visits the studiolo, a strange small room that was reconstructed as a whole from a palace in Italy, he gets the strangest feeling. Finally one day, he is transported back to the 14th century where he meets the real Anna, and her very jealous husband, Leandro. What will become of the poor, hapless Matt?

The story was interesting, but at times I had a hard time following what was happening. There is a lot of talk of string theory, quantum physics, and the music of the spheres, which I am afraid went over my head. Still, the descriptions of Italy and the story were well done.

[Soledad P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro fue una sorpresa, porque no había oído de él, pero al leerlo no lo pude soltar. Te atrapa, o al menos a mi, me hizo leerlo de un tirón. Los personajes son bastante creíbles, a pesar de que se profundiza mucho en los protagonistas dejando un poco de lado a los secundarios. Hay mucho misterio y la duda te impide dejar de leer, aunque al final todo se vuelve muy fantástico.

Sin embargo es una excelente mezcla de arte y ciencia, ya que todo tiene su pseudo explicación (no muy buena, pero al menos el escritor lo intentó. Sólo no hay que tomarla muy en cuenta para seguir leyendo sin sensaciones como de que faltó algo).

En resumen, una buena lectura para pasar el rato, muy recomendable.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this probably deserves a 3.75 or even lower according to my personal rating scale, but I'm giving it a 4 because I know I'm going to read it again and I'm happy I bought a physical copy. The good outweighed the bad for me, subjectively.

The good:

-The author knows a lot about music, art, art restoration, paint making, and the like, which I found fascinating and translated very well to the page. His writing during the times he was describing the above flowed magnificently and was entrancing as well as technical. I'm definitely going to reread this book to enjoy these passages again.

-Though it took roughly 50 pages for me to get into the story, mostly due to clunky writing at the beginning and repetitive words use, the story kept me engaged and I finished the last 250 pages quickly.

The bad:

-Inconsistent flow. Some passages were wonderful, others tedious, and these were all mashed together. Sometimes there was a variety on one page. It made for a hectic read.

-Quantum mechanics is every science fiction author's "get out of jail free" card. The time travel here not only used this tired excuse, but didn't use it well. Time jumps were not written well. One second he's in the present, the next he's in the past, and apparently there is no adjustment period necessary to acclimate.

-The girlfriend at the beginning could have been entirely cut out of the story and nothing about the story would change. The author wrote well about art, but emotion is not his forte. The process of falling in love with the woman in the painting is glossed over entirely. The author had issues with transitions overall, I think that's the crux of it.

Despite the massive flaws, I did really enjoy this read and will read it again to enjoy the more technical and historic bits.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ein unbekanntes Werk eines großen Künstlers zu finden, ist der Traum von jedem Kurator. Matt O'Brien vom New Yorker Metropolitan Museum of Art scheint das gelungen zu sein. Das Gemälde, auf das er gestoßen ist, scheint vom großen Leonardo da Vinci gemalt zu sein. Aber noch mehr als der Ruhm fasziniert ihn die Frau, die es zeigt. Ihr Anblick weckt eine Erinnerung aus längst vergangenen Zeiten in ihm.

Die Geschichte fängt mitten in der Handlung an und verrät so schon, in welche Richtung sie sich entwickeln wird. Es geht um Zeitreisen, aber ob im Traum oder in Wirklichkeit, ist zunächst nicht klar. Für Matt vermischen sich Gegenwart und Vergangenheit immer mehr. Die Vergangenheit wird immer realer für ihn.

Weil die Geschichte auch von Leonardo da Vinci handelte, war sie besonders interessant für mich. Aber der Künstler war auch der einzige interessante Aspekt. Die Handlung in den einzelnen Zeitebenen war nicht gut ausgearbeitet und die Charaktere wirkten leblos, egal in welcher Zeit. Nur ganz am Ende gab es eine überraschende Wendung, aber die hat nicht gereicht, um den durchschnittlichen Eindruck wett zu machen

[Dylan Freno · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I had been waiting to read for a long time, and I finally got around to it at the perfect time - in Italy! My recent interactions with some of the art and locations mentioned in the book definitely heightened my enjoyment of this reading, but this is almost best read with a search engine at the ready for those who aren’t too familiar with Italian Renaissance painting. McKean’s use of similes felt almost unending, and fell flat to me at times, but for the most part, the descriptions of the paintings and the feelings they impacted on their viewers were displayed very eloquently. I greatly enjoyed the story itself, and the style of the writing works very well for the changing time periods.

[Colleen Mertens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book bounces between modern day in the life of an art restorer and the time period of the work he restores. It combines art and romance and time travel. It was interesting to see how the characters interact with each other and how they grow. The female characters in the past are strong women and work within and around the time period's limitations on them. This book was a fun read, fantasy novel.

[Emilia Sur · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book with a title that attracted the Renaissance-lover that I am right away.
However, it didn't live up to my expectations because of the plot gaps and the structure that could have benefitted from a more tighter-knit story-telling.
I don't even feel inspired to a more ample review. I give it two stars because I'm hopeful that readers will feel encouraged or intrigued to read more about the Renaissance and the theory of music...

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite sure how to rate this one. 1st time novelist so there is some great potential for the future. This was an historic fiction/fantasy/parallel reality. Set in NYC, an art authenticator runs across a very old badly aged portrait & starts to slowly restore it. As he does, he has more and more feelings of recognition and ends up walking into a parallel time during the Italian Renaissance in order to pursue her. Strangely weird and yet very readable.

[Jficele · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quattrocento is about an art curator who falls in love with a painting subject from a different time. The author uses the idea of “quantum physics” to allow them to meet but the story is terribly disjointed. I thought it was me. I thought I must not be paying attention so I doubled down to concentrate but it still didn’t flow. The writing was ok, but every other sentence seemed to start with the protagonists name and I never knew how the character got from one scene to the next.

[Robbie Amori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book by any means, and I think the writing is quite decent - there are moments in the book that I really enjoyed. However, on the whole this book left me frustrated. There were several aspects of the plot that didn't seem fully fleshed out. It was as if we only got a glimpse at 80% of the total story.

[Aitor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Por una parte, la temática me llama mucho la atención: un amante del arte que se obsesiona con el retrato de una mujer que vivió en la Italia del Renacimiento, viajeros en el tiempo, el choque de dos mundos... Pero, por otra, la trama es muy confusa debido a la cantidad de detalles que se describen, que a mí me hacen perder el hilo.

[nx74defiant · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very uneven book. There are scenes that are absolutely beautiful. When describing art and Matt sinking into the love of art shines through.Other parts are very clunking. Somethings also make absolutely no sense.

[Nicoletta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woof! A toughie to get through and almost DNF. So conceptually interesting, but unfortunately the scenes didn't merry well and it was far too filled with name-dropping and allusion to be an enjoyable narrative.

[Karen Sofarin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was a bit slow to start, but really enjoyed it once the time travel actually started. The art world details were interesting too. Good read.

[Poppy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Time travel for art history nerds.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. McKean... we need a sequel! I really loved this book.. Italy, the Quattrocento!

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was light, fun and interesting—just what you want in a summer read.

[Anne Minniti]

I give up! Couldn’t finish this book.

[Ca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m going to call it. 100 pages in and the jumpy story telling combined with my lack of interest has me reaching for the next book on my shelf.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

It seemed so exciting, yet was dull, dull, dull. I put it down without finishing the second chapter.

[Michelle Flores · Rating 1 out of 5]

horrible, no lo lean