On My Mind: The Lost Painting

The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My mom suggested this book, after I reviewed Girl with a Pearl Earring and said, "Now we just need a good book written about Caravaggio! Wait, that would probably be too R-rated for me!" She asked me whether I had read The Lost Painting. I hadn't, and since it wasn't available at the Springville Library, I purchased it used for a few dollars.

This is not historical fiction, as is Girl, but history written so well that you think it must be fiction. I really like how Harr brought alive the research and restoration process surrounding "The Taking of Christ" by Caravaggio.

I knew almost nothing about Caravaggio until this past summer, when I took an Art History class at BYU. Now he is one of my favorite painters. He seemed psychologically tortured, brawling and drinking through the streets of Rome, living in relative squalor even at the time he was the highest paid painter in Rome. (The "Power of Art" series has some very dramatic portrayals of him, including one I'll try to post below. But his works of art are amazing, with canvasses that are engulfed in dark except for certain spots of light. Caravaggio had many followers, who attempted to mimic his style of tenebrism (a kind of heightened chiaroscuro). Still, within a century he was entirely forgotten, and it took a scholar's exhibition on Caravaggio in 1951 (if I'm remembering right) to bring him back into the public awareness.

Anyway, back to the book. It was not primarily about Caravaggio's life, though Harr does tell the important details. Instead, it is about a graduate student in Italy and an unknown restorer of paintings in Ireland who separately track down the painting. I loved how Harr brought the whole process to life; I felt like I was reading a mystery novel at times.

I stayed up late last night to get in the last 80 pages of the book. I now want to read Harr's award-winning A Civil Action. And I want more books about Caravaggio! <: View all my reviews >>