I know very little about art or art history. I was a bit skeptical that I would enjoy this book, but it came highly recommended. Turns out that I found the book engrossing. Whaddaya know? Jonathan Harr writes about the finding of a Caravaggio painting that went missing for several hundred years. He makes art history, a subject I normally think dreary, into something interesting. Additionally, Harr delves fairly deeply into the people involved, bringing their personalities into the drama. Including that of Caravaggio.

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The Lost Painting is a fast-paced romp through Rome, Dublin, London and Edinburgh in the search of a lost painting by Caravaggio. The artist and art history are short-changed, but if you are interested in the competitive world of art historians, restorers and academics, this is an excellent peek at how reputations are made and lost.

Caravaggio was a paranoid nutbag who was forced to flee Rome when he killed a guy. Being a fugitive changed his personality only for the worse, but the guy could paint. Most of his paintings have been lost or destroyed over time and so the discovery of a new Caravaggio was enough to send the art world into a tizzy. This book had a limited scope, which allowed Harr to write a tightly plotted and exciting book about a fairly unexplosive topic. ( )

This much-acclaimed book is a narrative nonfiction journey through the search for Caravaggio’s lost Baroque masterpiece: The Taking of Christ. Harr skillfully reveals the tale through the experiences of several real-life participants: the art critic, the graduate-student researchers and the restorer. Harr, who has definitely done his homework here, provides background on the artist and the lost painting, but weaves that in and out of the ongoing search, so that the story’s tension is never lost. He maintains just enough distance for journalistic objectivity, while using his interviews with the characters to layer in personal feelings and experiences, ultimately providing all the excitement of a contemporary art mystery. Although this work does not have the depth (or length) of one of Erik Larssen’s better narrative nonfiction works (Isaac’s Storm, The Devil in the White City), many readers will find it a thoroughly fascinating read. I did. ( )

I became interested in this book when it was discussed on one of the threads on LT. I requested it from my library system and when it came I received the audio version rather than the print version. I don’t know if I accidentally requested the wrong version or if they made the mistake but it was serendipitous because hubby and I were taking a mini vacation and we both listened to it on the trip. It was unabridged and well read by Campbell Scott and thoroughly enjoyable—even riveting.

This is the fascinating story of the finding of the lost painting “The Taking of Christ” by the revolutionary painter Caravagio, a master of the Italian Baroque. Although the story is true it reads like an exciting novel and has a large cast of characters. Along the way we meet two graduate students who are trying to track down what happened to the painting, an important Caravagio expert from London who is responsible for authenticating (or not) many of Carvagio’s existing paintings including two copies of “The Taking of Christ”, and many others involved in the art world. We learn much about tracking the provenance of a painting, authenticating paintings, restoring paintings, art seminars and exhibitions, and about Caravagio, his life and his works. Highly recommended—especially if you are interested in art and art museums. 4 stars. ( )

This is a truly fascinating story about the discovery of a once-lost masterpiece by Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ. More than that, the book is about how the discipline of art history works - how research and scholarship and restoration go hand in hand and how important continued scholarship can be. Harr's writing is very quick-paced and easy to read, making a story that could be dense with names and dates and facts move along easily.

As an archivist- and art librarian-in-training, I found this book tremendously helpful. I had never really understood why so many art libraries devote precious space to auction catalogs, but this story proved their usefulness to me. I will definitely be suggesting it to my friends in my program.

However, for a book about art, there was a distinct lack of illustrations. A small photo of The Taking of Christ on the back cover helped in understanding composition and, to a degree, color and light, but it was too dark and too small to be truly helpful. The book also could have used an appendix that concisely traced the provenance of the painting or maps showing where the painting had gone in its travels. ( )