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The Lost Painting
The Quest For A Caravaggio Masterpiece
by Jonathan Harr


8.1

based on 17 reviews
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based on 6 votes
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Official Publisher Site

The author of A Civil Action goes on the trail of a lost masterpiece by the 16th century Italian painter.

Random House, 288 pages
10/25/2005
$24.95

ISBN: 0375508015

Nonfiction
Art, Architecture & Photography
History

All reviews are classified as one of five grades: Outstanding (4 points), Favorable (3), Mixed (2), Unfavorable (1) and Terrible (0). To calculate the Metascore, we divide total points achieved by the total points possible (i.e., 4 x the number of reviews), with the resulting percentage (multiplied by 100) being the Metascore. Learn more...

Boston Globe Richard Eder

His book is about the pursuit of lost art and also the life of the pursuit. He writes with a novelist's gift for character and a dramatist's for character in action.

Chicago Sun-Times Avis Weathersbee

Though it has been 10 years since Harr's award-winning "A Civil Action" was published, this new book shows that he has lost none of his facility for animating stories that many authors would find daunting.

The Economist

It is as perfect a work of narrative non-fiction as you could ever hope to read.

The New York Times Book Review Bruce Handy

In truth, the book reads better than a thriller because, unlike a lot of best-selling non-fiction authors who write in a more or less novelistic vein (Harr's previous book, "A Civil Action," was made into a John Travolta movie), Harr doesn't plump up his tale.

The Onion A.V. Club Scott Tobias

The book is a page-turner, thanks largely to Harr's understanding of the high stakes involved and his gift for infusing urgency into the fastidious labors of professionals.

Washington Post Jabari Asim

In less skilled hands, such conditions are a recipe for deadly dullness. But Harr is a proven talent and a shrewd one as well.

Library Journal Marcia Welsh

Harr infuses this information with life and suspense. [15 Nov 2005, p.66]

Los Angeles Times Jay Parini

This technique of creative nonfiction works quite well to evoke a sense of scene and character, and Harr generates a surprising amount of suspense. [20 Nov 2005, p.R6]

Publishers Weekly

Granted, Harr is not an art historian, but his lack of artistic analysis of Caravaggio's paintings may frustrate readers who wish to know more about the naturalistic Italian's works.

Booklist Donna Seaman

As Harr expertly tracks the converging quests of the students and the restorer, he incisively recounts Caravaggio's wild and tragic life, and offers evocative testimony to the resonance of his daring and magnificent work. [1 Oct 2005, p.4]

Kirkus Reviews

The story would have benefited from more insight into Caravaggio the artist--there's not quite enough here to help the uninformed appreciate the beauty of his work. Still, art lovers and mystery fans should find plenty to ponder and enjoy. [15 Sept 2005, p.1012]

The New Yorker

Despite the book’s tone of hushed excitement, its long inventory of detail sometimes acquires an archival feel, and its ostensible centerpieces—the drinking, brawling Caravaggio and his elusive painting—make only fleeting appearances.

The New York Times Michiko Kakutani

Because the author skims so lightly over Caravaggio's own story and the qualities of his work that make him such a presciently modern painter, this is a volume best read in conjunction with another book about the artist - preferably one that is copiously illustrated with pictures of the master's luminous and unsettling art.

Houston Chronicle Michael Hardy

Could be described as high-brow Dan Brown or low-brow Umberto Eco depending on the reader's generosity.

San Francisco Chronicle Jason Roberts

An amiable, readable but not enthralling mismatch of talent and tale, and proof that the storyteller cannot transcend the story itself.

Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling

Harr is a smooth writer, but some of his novelistic detail seems dubiously re-created.

Chicago Tribune Richard Stern

His style is dull, he dwells on boring minutiae, he has a poor ear for speech, and he is better at describing process, such as the cleaning of the painting, than what people think or look like. Caravaggio's thrilling clarity may have inspired his project, but unfortunately not his prose. [6 Nov 2005]

The average user rating for this book is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Michael K gave it a10:
The ultimate summer read. A look inside the world of art historians, researchers, restorers, et al, which reads like a detective story. I loved the personalities and the local color.

Julie L gave it a10:
An uncanny look at the accidental way in which great a great discovery can be made. Two graduate students in a dusty archive spend hour after hour looking for material about something completely different than this painting, and then they come across a small line in a very old inventorylist - and the hunt is on. But the real excitement is in the competition between rival factions of museum curators and academics. Naturally, you have to be interested in art and in the joys of scholarship to enjoy this book, so it isn't for everyone. But it will please a much larger group than just art history specialists. Great fun, a good story all together, it holds your attention to the very end, and it sends you out eager to read more about the subject. What more can you ask for?

Lois G gave it a10:
I found this book to be very well written. It read like a mystery novel. A good read.

Nada D gave it a10:
Harr kept my interest from first page till last. This was far better than most so called "thrillers." I can't wait for his next.

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The Lost Painting The Quest For A Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathan Harr

The Lost Painting
The Quest For A Caravaggio Masterpiece
by Jonathan Harr