What do you think?
Rate this book
Provenance
The year is 1993. Christina Perretti, working as an investigator with Interpol's new art crimes unit out of Rome, discovers, through the recovery of a lost Egon Schiele painting in Moscow, a cache of notes from a notorious Berlin art dealer for the Nazis, Harry Maes. The notes are addressed to his son Nikolaus, but they concern the provenance of a number of paintings believed to have been in Maes's possession at the time of his death.
As Perretti seeks to recover these works, all presumed to be stolen from Jewish families during the Second World War, she discovers a decades-old plot to save some of the Vatican's greatest treasures from the Nazis and a web of intrigue and murder involving those seeking to profit from the burgeoning grey and black markets in the former Eastern Bloc.
Provenance pieces together one family’s legacy, what was lost and recovered at the moment once thought to mark the end of history.
As Perretti seeks to recover these works, all presumed to be stolen from Jewish families during the Second World War, she discovers a decades-old plot to save some of the Vatican's greatest treasures from the Nazis and a web of intrigue and murder involving those seeking to profit from the burgeoning grey and black markets in the former Eastern Bloc.
Provenance pieces together one family’s legacy, what was lost and recovered at the moment once thought to mark the end of history.
277 pages, Paperback
Published July 7, 2023
2 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 13, 2023
This is a very cool book! It is written from three different point of views (the art dealer, the Interpol investigator, and the art dealer's son), but in sequence, instead of back and forth. So the story is easy to follow. Half way through the book, everything starts to come together. We can also feel the characters' moral dilemma. I like the historical background, the arts, the investigation trails, and the plot twists.
Before, I was not into paintings that much, but then I ended up googling up the paintings mentioned in the book due to curiosity. What a great read! This book will make a great movie.
Before, I was not into paintings that much, but then I ended up googling up the paintings mentioned in the book due to curiosity. What a great read! This book will make a great movie.
Displaying 1 of 1 review