{"product_id":"the-lost-painting-random-house-large-print","title":"The Lost Painting (Random House Large Print)","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn 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 didnt 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 othersno one knows the precise numberhave 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 Christits 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.  Told with consummate skill by the writer of the bestselling  award-winning A Civil Action  The Lost Painting is a remarkable synthesis of history and detective story. The fascinating details of Caravaggios strange  turbulent career and the astonishing beauty of his work come to life in these pages. Harrs account is not unlike a Caravaggio painting: vivid  deftly wrought  and enthralling. \". . . 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 because  unlike a lot of best-selling nonfiction authors who write in a more or less novelistic vein (Harrs previous book  A Civil Action  was made into a John Travolta movie)  Harr doesnt plump up hi tale. He almost never foreshadows  doesnt implausibly reconstruct entire conversations and rarely throws in litanies of clearly conjectured or imagined details just for colors sake. . .if youre a sucker for Rome  and for dusk. . .youll enjoy Harrs more clearly reported details about life in the city  as when--one of my favorite moments in the whole book--Francesca and another young colleague try to calm their nerves before a crucial meeting with a forbidding professor by eating gelato. And who wouldnt in Italy? The pleasures of travelogue here are incidental but not inconsiderable.\" --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\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44944823943221,"sku":"ByrdShop_0375431535","price":88.91,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780375431531.jpg?v=1769855021","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-lost-painting-random-house-large-print","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}