BOOK:   The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece

AUTHOR:   Jonathan Harr

SUMMARY: Jonathan has taken a number of years to write another book after his bestseller A Civil Action. Although the subject matter is different, his style is just as captivating. He grabs your interest in the beginning and keeps you reading to reach the end quickly. His research into the 16th century art world of Baroque painter Caravaggio is fascinating. On a par with The Irish Game, he delves into old master's paintings, authenticity and the restoration of great paintings. Set in Italy, this non-fiction detective story moves to Ireland. The author writes quite comfortably about the complicated artistic process. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is pictured as the talented, bad-boy of his time. The historic sketch shows us a violent painter who produced great art while hiding from vengeful enemies and the law. A combination of past and present showcased in short chapters hold the reader's attention from beginning to end. The characters are interesting in that they are all infected with "Caravaggio disease". My only complaint is that the book does not have a color plate of Caravaggio's painting, The Taking of Christ, the subject of the story. I had to look it up online. My curiosity got the best of me and I had to see what this painting looked like.

PLOT: In 1992 Francesca Cappelletti, a 24 year-old graduate student at the University of Rome, discovered some receipts leading to The Taking of Christ. A Caravaggio painting that has been "missing" for more than 200 years. Noted Caravaggio scholar, Denis Mahon, becomes involved. In "Sir Denis's eyes the Italian Baroque had come back into fashion. And no artist of that era has become more fashionable than Caravaggio." The author tells us " Sir Denis believed that by studying the work of an artist he could penetrate the depth of that man's mind. In the case of Caravaggio, it was the mind of a genius. A murderer and a madman, perhaps, but certainly a genius." In Ireland, Jesuit priests are having a grimy old painting sent out for cleaning. Sergio Benedetti, who works in restoration at the National Gallery of Ireland, suspects that this work long owned by the Jesuits is the lost Caravaagio masterpiece. As he cleans and restores this painting he finds many interesting things. One is the fact that Caravaggio painted over one of Judas's ears. These three people solve the mystery about this painting that has been lost for many generations. At the conclusion of this skillfully told account, Harr lets us know that the Jesuits have lent this masterpiece to the National Museum in Dublin. I would now love to go there to see the original… especially to see Judas's ear.