The Lost Painting--Book Review

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The Lost Painting (Random House Large Print (Hardcover)). Jonathan Harr. Large Print Edition. Random House. New York, New York. 2005.

Book review by Jane
This book describes a trek of several different characters to find the background and original of a four-century-old painting by Caravaggio in the late 20th century. It had been awhile from the time I found this book to the time I read it, that I had forgotten that it was a non-fiction account. This book reads like an exciting mystery-historical fiction, and I was fooled. I was pleased to realize that Francesca, one of the art students who helped find valuable information regarding "The Taking of Christ" painting, is a real person!

The main premise of the book is the quest of the modern day characters. The book skims over the interesting, maybe tragic life of Caravaggio himself, but provides enough background for the story, and to pique the reader's interest to research further--maybe even catching, as Francesca would say, "the Caravaggio disease" (an obsession with this artist). It at least enlists the reader to Google some of the paintings described in the book and the artist himself. "The Taking of Christ" is presented on the back cover of the book and does raise emotions.

Joel of Book Reader's Traverse sent me a YouTube.com link to a book review done by Arapahoe Library District's JoAnne Pulcino, which I thoroughly enjoyed and then visited some of her other book reviews. This one sounded interesting, so I chose to reserve it at my local library.

I recommend the book, especially for people who usually like a good historical fiction read. This book just has the added bonus of being true.

Jane.

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Would you like to see more reviews like this one? Jane of Book Reader's Traverse prefers to scan the library database for books to read, grabbing titles from many sources. She reviews many non-fiction titles, as well as some fiction of the day. Visit her picks page for her bio and other reviews--Jane's Picks.

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