”But she was most struck by the reaction from the audience. They were not admiring the delicacy of the brush strokes, the masterly application of shading or the subtleties of the composition, that was certain. They were ogling. Not a usual reaction for connoisseurs. She herself was caught up in the enthusiasm. The picture, both in its history and subject, was extraordinarily romantic. This most beautiful woman, nearly half a millennium old, had been lost for nearly three hundred years. It could hardly fail to capture the imagination.”Elisabetta.She was made famous by being the subject of a painting by the celebrated artist Raphael...or was she? A woman still beautiful even in a modern sense with fine lines and none of the heft of the Madonnas common to that period. Portrait of a Woman (1507) Raphael.Jonathan Argyll after doing his usual slap dash, but generally brilliant research was arrested poking around a church. He was looking for evidence that a hidden Raphael existed. Through some deft behind the scenes maneuverings the art in question lands in the hands of a famous; and yet, slightly odorous art dealer Edward Brynes. If Will Brynes were a fictional character instead of a great reviewer on GR Edward would most assuredly be his Uncle. Argyll is left sitting on a back bench wondering how he brought the painting to everyone’s attention, but somehow has been left out of any compensation. He is an academic and totally unsuited to survive even the dipping of a toe in the turbulent waters of high finance. The Italian government dismayed at all the Italian art that continues to be sold to the United States, to Japan, and to Britain decides that it will pay any price to keep this Raphael from leaving the country. Italy wins or do they lose? Argyll after more indepth research realizes that he may have made a mistake. Byrnes, out of some sort of guilt or possibly with the intent to keep an eye on Argyll offers him a much needed scholarship that allows him the means to return to Italy. Circumstances quickly spin out of control and Argyll finds himself being pushed to do proper research by the lovely Flavia di Stefano, a member of the Italian Art Theft Squad. She, unfortunately, sees the hapless Argyll as more of an amusing friend than as a potential lover. She might even think he is cute. Which as any man knows once he is labelled as such that it is all over. He has no chance of ever being seen as the masculine, knee trembling, paragon of sexual desire. Iain Pears includes some rather interesting explanations about how art forgery is accomplished. A brilliant forgery is in many ways more of a work of art than the original. An expert forger really has to be the master of many crafts. If he is the best no one will ever know his name. The speculation of what is real and what is fake of the thousands (millions) of pieces of very important art hanging in famous museums all over the world is interesting to contemplate. Luckily I do not have a professional eye that has to ponder the probabilities. I can enjoy a fake as much as an original. I’ve already ordered book two in the series. I hear the books only continue to get better as Pears settles into the characters he has created. Maybe Flavia will learn to see Jonathan as something more than just cute.
Odd in the beginning, in that the mystery is introduced and solved before chapter two. Maybe the rest of the book will detail another deeper mystery. Or maybe Ian Pears was contractually obligated to type a certain number of words and the rest is just filler. Parenthetically, The Rest is Just Filler, would be a great title for an autobiography written by a person who is still living, but does not expect to do anything noteworthy between publication and death.Okay, now the book is finished. It was quite good. The initial mystery is merely an appetizer as a second mystery regarding the missing Raphael is introduced. Pears characters are entertaining and decidedly European. There is roguish, fat, lazy, but brilliant Italian General of Police, an endearingly foppish British grad student who screams Hugh Grant, and a serious, buttoned down, liberated Italian investigator. The characters jet around London, Italy, and Switzerland connecting the dots of the mystery. If this book doesn't make you want to travel, then you probably prefer to vacation at a Nascar race. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
What do You think about The Raphael Affair (1998)?
Hmmm. I am disappointed to see that this book here is given the informational "(Jonathan Argyll, Book #1)", as Argyll was not my favorite character in the book. My version is listed as "Art History Mystery #1", so I was hopeful that the other books would deal with the art theft squad in Italy because I liked all of them. ANYWAY. My slight dampening of enthusiasm for the series aside, I'll just say that this was a good time. It's a sort of academic caper, where Argyll thinks he's figured out there's a hidden Raphael under a crappy painting, and he maybe gets scooped, and then there's adventure and hiding in museums and London and Rome and it's all quite FUN. A quick read.
—Nancy
Author Iain Pears created some marvelous characters, a clever mystery (with a superbly twisted ending), and a gorgeous travel poster in words for the City of Rome in this novel, the first of his "Art History Mysteries". Jonathan Argyll, an English doctoral student in art history, is something of a bumbler who manages to fall in the right direction in the convoluted trail of a lost masterwork by Raphael. His reluctant helpers are members of Italy's National Art Theft Squad--its chief, the portly General Bottando, and his assistant, the lovely Flavia di Stefano. The romantic possibilities abound in Rome, Zurich, and London, as do the red herrings and the threats to the good guys and the evil-doers. Fast, furious, and funny, Author Pears applies a good deal of wit to the pursuit of vandals, arsonists, and murderers. He educates as well as entertaining and presents some fascinating art history and information on the restoring and auctioning of rarities that leaves readers wanting to know more.
—Jill Holmes
I read my first Art Squad novel some years ago, and only just got around to picking up a few more of Iain Pears' series. The Raphael Affair is the first in the series, and introduces the wonderful General Bottando, head of Italy's Art Squad, dedicated to solving crimes related to art theft, forgery and fraud. We also meet his beautiful young investigator/protege, Flavia, and the young English art history scholar, Jonathan Argyll, whose research leads in this first outing to the discovery of an unknown Raphael, hidden for centuries behind a faked icon by a lesser painter, the result of an historic attempt at art fraud. Pears takes us through the investigation, the often ethically challenged world of art dealers, museum politics and the dangerous battlefield of the Italian bureaucracy. And there's a fine twist at the end, when Argyll for once and all reveals what really happened to that Raphael.A pleasant series, and a fun excursion for art lovers and mystery readers alike.
—Deb
