The lost painting - Jonathan Harr

Told with consummate skill by the writer of the bestselling, award-winningA Civil Action,The Lost Paintingis a remarkable synthesis of history and detective story.

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.

The artist was Caravaggio, a master of
the Italian Baroque. He was a genius, a revolutionary painter, and a man beset by
personal demons. Four hundred years ago, he drank and brawled in the taverns and
streets of Rome, moving from one rooming house to another, constantly in and out
of jail, all the while painting works of transcendent emotional and visual power.
He rose from obscurity to fame and wealth, but success didn't alter his violent temperament.
His rage finally led him to commit murder, forcing him to flee Rome a hunted man.
He died young, alone, and under strange circumstances.

Caravaggio scholars estimate
that between sixty and eighty of his works are in existence today. Many others-no
one knows the precise number-have been lost to time. Somewhere, surely, a masterpiece
lies forgotten in a storeroom, or in a small parish church, or hanging above a fireplace,
mistaken for a mere copy.

Prizewinning author Jonathan Harr embarks on an spellbinding
journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ-its mysterious
fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees
for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive,
she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But
it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that
she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle.

Praise for The Lost Painting

"Jonathan Harr has gone to the trouble
of writing what will probably be a bestseller . . . rich and wonderful. . . . In truth,
the book reads better than a thriller. .
. . If you're a sucker for Rome, and for dusk . . . [you'll] enjoy Harr's more clearly
reported details about life in the city."-The New York Times Book Review

"Jonathan Harr has taken the story of the lost
painting, and woven from it a deeply moving narrative about history, art and taste-and
about the greed, envy, covetousness and professional jealousy of people who fall
prey to obsession. It is as perfect a work of narrative nonfiction as you could ever
hope to read."-The Economist