Status
Available
Collection
Series
Genres
Publication
Berkley (2001), Edition: Reissue, 257 pages
Description
Set in Rome, The Raphael Affair features the perpetually beset General Bottando of the Italian National Art Theft Squad; his glamorous assistant, Flavia di Stefano; and Jonathan Argyll, a British art historian. When Jonathan is arrested for breaking into an obscure church in Rome, he claims that it contains a long-lost Raphael hidden under a painting by Mantini. The painting disappears-then reappears in the hands of the top British art dealer, Edward Byrnes. How has Byrnes found out about the hidden masterpiece, and whom is he acting for? There is also the curious matter of the safety-deposit box full of sketches closely resembling features of the newly discovered painting. A hideous act of vandalism occurs, then murder. Bottando faces the most critical challenge of his career, and Jonathan and Flavia find themselves in unexpected danger.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Lman
This is light-weight it has to be said. But then this book is also the beginning of another series with an interesting milieu, and despite this somewhat lack of depth, there is still a sense of verve, along with a large dose of vitality, in the details surrounding this tale. And the premise
“In a country where the love of art is part of its national identity” it is not surprising that a special police department is established in Italy, to deal with the vast amount of thievery happening amongst all this treasure. Thus Generale Taddeo Bottando readily heads such a national task force, happily based in his beloved city of Rome, and ably aided by his research assistant Flavia di Stefano. And thus we are introduced to two major protagonists of this tale, who both share a diverse Italian flare, much mutual respect and affection, and a love of art and Italy; which is somewhat contrasted when they join forces with the Englishman, art historian Jonathan Argyll, in a dubious case of art imitating art! When an unknown, and hidden, Raphael painting is ‘uncovered’, due to Jonathan’s research and ultimately obtained at great expense by the Italian government, the subsequent actions and outcomes – fraud, fakery, murder and dastardly vandalism – reveal a scenario quite astonishing; except perhaps to Italian sensibilities.
The delight I found in The Raphael Affair was derived from the intricate particulars the author supplies amongst these artistic environs – through the venues, about the actual painters and paintings, in the characters inhabiting this particular sphere, and from the beauty of the country and its incomparable cultural heritage. With little fanfare and without much emphasis the reader is drawn into this world and learns the pertinent facts and necessities of the mystery, but with only partial facets of the main characters revealed. This lack of countenance disappointed somewhat – and it is to be hoped that future books develop these personalities further; there is much more below each, waiting to surface, I feel. But the elements of painting and renowned painters, of museums and restorations, and the history of famous works – these components offer an unusual nuance to enjoy.
Finishing with an interesting twist – and perhaps affecting a tongue-in-cheek poke at the world of academia, and the elite echelons of those in the purview of the wheeling and dealings surrounding priceless masterpieces – this is a fun, amusing read, presenting an unusual insight into an interesting world I know little about; and despite the wish for more substance I am sure to pick up the next book in the near future, for another peek into this fascinating setting.
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delivers much delight with its historical context amidst the interesting but less-salubrious aspects of the world of art history – patently long-familiar and very well-known to this author. All this then contributes to a pleasant, if short, entertaining read.“In a country where the love of art is part of its national identity” it is not surprising that a special police department is established in Italy, to deal with the vast amount of thievery happening amongst all this treasure. Thus Generale Taddeo Bottando readily heads such a national task force, happily based in his beloved city of Rome, and ably aided by his research assistant Flavia di Stefano. And thus we are introduced to two major protagonists of this tale, who both share a diverse Italian flare, much mutual respect and affection, and a love of art and Italy; which is somewhat contrasted when they join forces with the Englishman, art historian Jonathan Argyll, in a dubious case of art imitating art! When an unknown, and hidden, Raphael painting is ‘uncovered’, due to Jonathan’s research and ultimately obtained at great expense by the Italian government, the subsequent actions and outcomes – fraud, fakery, murder and dastardly vandalism – reveal a scenario quite astonishing; except perhaps to Italian sensibilities.
The delight I found in The Raphael Affair was derived from the intricate particulars the author supplies amongst these artistic environs – through the venues, about the actual painters and paintings, in the characters inhabiting this particular sphere, and from the beauty of the country and its incomparable cultural heritage. With little fanfare and without much emphasis the reader is drawn into this world and learns the pertinent facts and necessities of the mystery, but with only partial facets of the main characters revealed. This lack of countenance disappointed somewhat – and it is to be hoped that future books develop these personalities further; there is much more below each, waiting to surface, I feel. But the elements of painting and renowned painters, of museums and restorations, and the history of famous works – these components offer an unusual nuance to enjoy.
Finishing with an interesting twist – and perhaps affecting a tongue-in-cheek poke at the world of academia, and the elite echelons of those in the purview of the wheeling and dealings surrounding priceless masterpieces – this is a fun, amusing read, presenting an unusual insight into an interesting world I know little about; and despite the wish for more substance I am sure to pick up the next book in the near future, for another peek into this fascinating setting.
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LibraryThing member atheist_goat
I enjoy this whole series very much. Light and fluffy, yes, but never once is the reader condescended to about the artists or styles described; he or she is assumed to have quite a bit of knowledge of art history (and has a better chance of figuring out the solution the more he or she knows), but
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the books wouldn't be incomprehensible to one who didn't. As afternoon or airplane mystery reading goes, you could do far worse. Show Less
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
Iain Pears wrote two of my favourite literary novel. With the majestic Stone’s Fall, he essentially redefined the historical novel, while his The Dream of Scipio features three parallel storylines that seamlessly transcend a span of nearly two thousand years.
Before ascending to those lofty
In this first volume in the series, graduate student Jonathan Argyll has been on the trail of a missing Raphael. We tend to think of state restrictions on the export of items of national heritage as a relatively recent phenomenon, but it is a well-established trait. Argyll’s researches revolve around an attempt conspiracy during the eighteenth century to smuggle a Raphael owned by a noble, yet poverty stricken, Italian family out to a wealthy English purchaser. The particular modus operandi selected was to have the old master carefully varnished and then painted over by a lesser artist, with a view to subsequent delicate restoration by the new owners a few years later. Unfortunately, having succumbed to temptation to sidestep the regulations by underhand means, the prospective purchaser then found himself double-crossed, being fobbed off with a [perfectly charming yet relatively valueless painting by the lesser artist, while the disguised Raphael disappeared.
Argyll’s researches appear to have been vindicated when the painting he believes to be the missing and disguised Raphael is bought from under his nose just days before he can formally identify it. The purchaser, esteemed art dealer Edward Byrnes has the painting cleaned and what purports to be a hitherto unknown Raphael is duly discovered. It is eventually sold through one of the prominent London auction houses for a world record sum, being bought by the Italian government. But that is just the start of the fun, and a string of crimes is unleashed, stretching from an act of grotesque artistic vandalism to fraud and even murder. All of this is watched, initially with bemusement but then with growing concern and horror by General Bottando, head of Italy’s Art Theft Squad, and his glamorous and gifted assistant, Flavia di Stafano.
Written with an appealing lightness of touch, this is a highly entertaining crime novel, that blends valuable insight in to the foibles, peccadilloes and fragile egos of the art world with a perfectly plausible plot, a delightfully evocative Italian setting and some highly empathetic characters.
Before ascending to those lofty
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pinnacles of literary fiction, Pears had been an art historian and journalist, and he drew upon that background to write a series of highly entertaining crime novels set in and around the world of the fine arts in Italy. As a simple country boy, this is far from my own comfort area, most of my knowledge of great art having been garnered through the medium of biscuit tin lids or gift calendars, with a distant and hazy recollection of the odd school trip to a local gallery (generally conspicuous by their absence in North Leicestershire during my childhood). That could not matter less, however, as Pears is highly informative without ever seeming to preach to, or patronise, [‘Patronise! Now that’s a good word … and you used it correctly too.’] his readers.In this first volume in the series, graduate student Jonathan Argyll has been on the trail of a missing Raphael. We tend to think of state restrictions on the export of items of national heritage as a relatively recent phenomenon, but it is a well-established trait. Argyll’s researches revolve around an attempt conspiracy during the eighteenth century to smuggle a Raphael owned by a noble, yet poverty stricken, Italian family out to a wealthy English purchaser. The particular modus operandi selected was to have the old master carefully varnished and then painted over by a lesser artist, with a view to subsequent delicate restoration by the new owners a few years later. Unfortunately, having succumbed to temptation to sidestep the regulations by underhand means, the prospective purchaser then found himself double-crossed, being fobbed off with a [perfectly charming yet relatively valueless painting by the lesser artist, while the disguised Raphael disappeared.
Argyll’s researches appear to have been vindicated when the painting he believes to be the missing and disguised Raphael is bought from under his nose just days before he can formally identify it. The purchaser, esteemed art dealer Edward Byrnes has the painting cleaned and what purports to be a hitherto unknown Raphael is duly discovered. It is eventually sold through one of the prominent London auction houses for a world record sum, being bought by the Italian government. But that is just the start of the fun, and a string of crimes is unleashed, stretching from an act of grotesque artistic vandalism to fraud and even murder. All of this is watched, initially with bemusement but then with growing concern and horror by General Bottando, head of Italy’s Art Theft Squad, and his glamorous and gifted assistant, Flavia di Stafano.
Written with an appealing lightness of touch, this is a highly entertaining crime novel, that blends valuable insight in to the foibles, peccadilloes and fragile egos of the art world with a perfectly plausible plot, a delightfully evocative Italian setting and some highly empathetic characters.
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LibraryThing member Tanya-dogearedcopy
Cozy mystery featuring Jonathan Argyll an Art History doctoral candidate from England, and Flavia di Stefano, an assistant on the Italian National Art Theft Squad. They are the trail of recovering a missing Raphael through the art auction houses and museums... The novel has all the tells of being
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written by someone who read Art History at Oxford: Slightly erudite, a little clever, but lacks heat and passion that you would expect between the protags and/or from the lush Italian settings. Show Less
LibraryThing member majkia
Interesting, twisty plot for an art heist. Good start to a series. Refreshing that the hero doesn't come up with all the solutions, and makes some serious errors in his search for the painting and the identity of the thief.
LibraryThing member karenpossingham
The first in a wonderful detective series set mostly in Rome and involves a fictional art theft squad detective called Favia and an English art dealer called Jonathan. It is well written and you learn a lot about renaissance art along the way!
LibraryThing member riida
i never thought an engaging and clever detective mystery (as opposed to a thriller) can be built around something other than a dead body. well, there were a couple of people who died, but their deaths were not the puzzle. of course, art scams and theft are pretty combustible topics in themselves.
i
packed in a tight 246 pages, this was fun and brilliant!
i
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never imagined iain pears could write a humorous piece. as compared to his somber 'instance at the fingerpost', which also had a central mystery (murder that time), this was positively mirthful.packed in a tight 246 pages, this was fun and brilliant!
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LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
Jonathan Argyll, an Englishman in Rome, is arrested for breaking into a church. But he makes some wild claims about why he was at the church so Flavia di Stefano of the Italian National Art Theft Squad is sent to interrogates him. He tells her that he was at the Church to look for a painting which
This is a fairly simple story but it’s very well told. It’s full of wonderful detail about Italy, the art world and how forgery scams work but there’s a decent plot, containing the requisite amount of red herrings and wrong turns, too. As is the way with cosies, there’s not too much focus on the nastier elements of crime and, instead, the reader gets taken on a romp through the madness of Italian politics and the outrageous things people will do in the name of art (or love) (or money). Silly scenes, such as the one where Flavia and Jonathan hide in a toilet for several hours, could be trite if not done well but here it was amusing.
The characters are charming. As well as Argyll, something of a bumbling though clever Englishman, and the sometimes-sarcastic, mostly hard-working Flaviathere’s the ’shade overweight’, coffee-loving Generale Taddeo Bottandowho is in charge of the Art Theft Squad. All of them are people you’d like to sit in a café with while sipping an espresso and discussing the meaning of life.
As with most cosy mysteries the success factor lies in a combination of vaguely plausible story, fun characters and a back drop that interests the reader. One of the reason I struggle to find cosy books I like is that many of the backdrops don’t interest me that much (so many seem to involve anthropomorphised cats and/or cooking) whereas The Raphael Affair’s focus on art history and Italy was a winning combination for me. If Donna Leon and Alexander McCall Smith wrote together I think the product would be something like this delightful book.
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he believes, due to his art history studies, is covering a previously unknown work by one of Italy’s 16thCentury Masters: Raphael. When the painting goes missing from the church and turns up as the property of an English art dealer the world becomes engrossed by the possibility of a ‘new’ Raphael painting.This is a fairly simple story but it’s very well told. It’s full of wonderful detail about Italy, the art world and how forgery scams work but there’s a decent plot, containing the requisite amount of red herrings and wrong turns, too. As is the way with cosies, there’s not too much focus on the nastier elements of crime and, instead, the reader gets taken on a romp through the madness of Italian politics and the outrageous things people will do in the name of art (or love) (or money). Silly scenes, such as the one where Flavia and Jonathan hide in a toilet for several hours, could be trite if not done well but here it was amusing.
The characters are charming. As well as Argyll, something of a bumbling though clever Englishman, and the sometimes-sarcastic, mostly hard-working Flaviathere’s the ’shade overweight’, coffee-loving Generale Taddeo Bottandowho is in charge of the Art Theft Squad. All of them are people you’d like to sit in a café with while sipping an espresso and discussing the meaning of life.
As with most cosy mysteries the success factor lies in a combination of vaguely plausible story, fun characters and a back drop that interests the reader. One of the reason I struggle to find cosy books I like is that many of the backdrops don’t interest me that much (so many seem to involve anthropomorphised cats and/or cooking) whereas The Raphael Affair’s focus on art history and Italy was a winning combination for me. If Donna Leon and Alexander McCall Smith wrote together I think the product would be something like this delightful book.
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LibraryThing member simchaboston
Takes a little while to get going (especially for those conditioned by Dan Brown thrillers), mostly because Pears seems to be setting up the milieu and the characters for future books. I did find the discussions of the art world interesting enough to finish it, though I hope there is more of an
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actual mystery in the next one I try. Show Less
LibraryThing member lucybrown
This was a fun, but not challenging mystery. Writing and pace are snappy. Love angle is cute.
LibraryThing member lucybrown
This was a fun, but not challenging mystery. Writing and pace are snappy. Love angle is cute.
LibraryThing member lucybrown
This was a fun, but not challenging mystery. Writing and pace are snappy. Love angle is cute.
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
This was the first installment of what was to become Iain Pears' "Art History Mystery" series, of which, including this one, I've now read, um, 5 out of 7, I think. I really hope he does more in the series - there hasn't been a new one in 6 years, and it seems like Pears has been concentrating more
I didn't really feel like my enjoyment of this story was spoiled by having already read later stories - rather, I was entertained by the younger and less experienced versions of the characters, and seeing how the author had initially introduced them (a couple of surprises!)
As always, Pears shows that he knows his art history, and, as I work in a museum, I found the depictions of museum politics quite amusing.
As far as the story goes - this mystery has to do with a young art history grad student who believes that he's discovered a long-lost secret - an unassuming work by a mediocre painter may hide beneath its layers of paint a masterpiece by Raphael. Howeve, a savvy dealer snatches the work virtually from under his nose, and soon enough trots out a Raphael, with enough fanfare to let it sell for an astounding price. But is the masterpiece real, or a clever fake? It may take General Bottando, of the Art Crimes Unit, and his young part-time assistant, Flavia, to figure it out
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on his 'serious' writing - which, if 'The Dream of Scipio' is to judge by, I don't enjoy as much. But - I've still got two more to go, before withdrawal really sets in!I didn't really feel like my enjoyment of this story was spoiled by having already read later stories - rather, I was entertained by the younger and less experienced versions of the characters, and seeing how the author had initially introduced them (a couple of surprises!)
As always, Pears shows that he knows his art history, and, as I work in a museum, I found the depictions of museum politics quite amusing.
As far as the story goes - this mystery has to do with a young art history grad student who believes that he's discovered a long-lost secret - an unassuming work by a mediocre painter may hide beneath its layers of paint a masterpiece by Raphael. Howeve, a savvy dealer snatches the work virtually from under his nose, and soon enough trots out a Raphael, with enough fanfare to let it sell for an astounding price. But is the masterpiece real, or a clever fake? It may take General Bottando, of the Art Crimes Unit, and his young part-time assistant, Flavia, to figure it out
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LibraryThing member soniaandree
The plot is ok and characters are likeable, except for the main one, Argyll. I've found him to have less characterisation than Flavia or her boss, Bottando, and he looks too much like a comic relief you would find in movies: he is just being "silly" in general. I take him as a wimp, somewhat. I do
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not think I'll read anymore by the same author, unless I have nothing else to sink my teeth into, or maybe as a summer read. This is a pity, because the plot could have been further developped, with maybe less satellite characters and more narrative tension. Meh. Show Less
LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
#1 Art History mystery. Set primarily in Rome (& Siena) Italy
Jonathan Argyll, graduate art student thinks he has found a Raphael that has been painted over for 200 years. Back and forth, back and forth, twists and turns - and I learned so much about art!
I'll definitely look for more of this
Jonathan Argyll, graduate art student thinks he has found a Raphael that has been painted over for 200 years. Back and forth, back and forth, twists and turns - and I learned so much about art!
I'll definitely look for more of this
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series. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1990
Physical description
8.26 inches
ISBN
0425178927 / 9780425178928