The Museum of Lost Art

by Noah Charney

True tales of lost art, built around case studies of famous works, their creators, and stories of disappearance and recovery

From the bestselling author of The Art of Forgery comes this dynamic narrative that tells the fascinating stories of artworks stolen, looted, or destroyed in war, accidentally demolished or discarded, lost at sea or in natural disasters, or attacked by iconoclasts or vandals; works that were intentionally temporal, knowingly destroyed by the artists themselves or their patrons, covered over with paint or plaster, or recycled for their materials. An exciting read that spans the centuries and the continents.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History, Art History, Adult

296 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 2018

About the author

Noah Charney holds degrees in art history from the Courtauld Institute of Art and Cambridge University. He is the founding director of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA), the first international think tank on art crime. He divides his time between New Haven, Connecticut; Cambridge, England; and Rome, Italy.

Reviews

[Linda Lipko · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful, thoughtful, well-written, and researched book that chronicles some of the lost art of the world. Included is the Colossus of Rhodes, the zodiac water clock at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, China, the work of art by Alexander Calder titled Bent Propeller, previously destroyed at the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, NY, paintings stolen from the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA, the sacking of Rome in 1527, and the ISIS intentional destruction of the National Museum in Baghdad in 2003.

Highly recommended if you are someone who appreciates art.

[Ellen Cutler · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is a disappointment.

I'm a huge Noah Charney fan; I adored "Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece." That book was thoughtful, complete, detailed. "The Museum of Lost Art" (Phaidon Press Ltd, 2018) is sloppy. Clearly no one looked at the galley because there are problems with spacing as well as sentences where it is evident that editing went on but no one sorted it out at the end.

The font choices are bizarre and while the design of the book with colored papers separating each section is attractive, the effect is haphazard. I dunno. Charney ran into some unexpected debts and need fast cash?

Charney is capable of weaving a compelling tale but here he jabs at specific works and doesn't bring any of the stories to any kind of conclusion, however literary rather than factual. There wasn't too much material that was unfamiliar to me, as an art historian. So many of the narratives, however, ignore related information. For instance, simply saying that Italian efforts stop because there isn't the money or the governmental will, without mentioning the substantial private efforts in place just shortchanges the reader.

It's hard to make a responsible critique of the book as a whole when what I want to do is go through it point by point and complain.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writings of Noah Charney especially in this books can be seen as an interesting overview of art or artifacts that seem to be lost to humanity forever or for a long time.

Like the art of forgery before this book it tells such a large amounts of stories that all should be themselves be interesting enough to warrant a complete book on their own. That said probably every bit of history has its own book or larger published paper and probably some or less than easily to read by the average lay person. In that sense Charney does deliver this popular collection of tales and he does leave it to the reader him/herself if he/she wants to go in-depth with certain subjects as delivered by the writer/presentator.
I myself have already read about the monument-men and their role in the recovery of stolen art by the Nazis. In itself the stolen art form WWII does create an interesting chapter and with the families of stolen materials still trying to get it back, I read an article the day after I finished the book about a judicial decision about "stolen" Jewish art. So it is still very much actual today.

Anyhow Charney delivers his presentation in the following chapters:
Theft - the absolute favorite chapter, who does not love a good heist.
War - Interesting how wars always sees people who do know how to get some good stuff
accident
Iconoclasm & vandalism - learned about a new word and the name ISIS is a very recent billboard for this chapter
Acts of God - who are we to discuss with the big guy, anybody remember Pompeii
Temporal works - this one was a new one to me
Destroyed by his owner - daft buggers
Buries & exhumed
Lost, or never was?

The book and its presentation is clearly fun and lighthearted reading, the illustrations are beautiful and some of the stories were new for me and some were eye-openers. Sure this book is an easy popular presentation of a subject that does call for a certain audience but delivers a story for a much wider audience.
If you like visiting musea and artsshows than this book does deliver some extra information and moments of interest. Not very chapter was that interesting for me but I can honestly say that I did learn something new.
The book was really enjoyable and a feast to read. It does expand your personal horizon I am sure.

[Maryna · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many ways that a work of art can desapear from the face of the Earth, forever on temporary, and Noah Charney knows them all.
He talks about many examples, from the ancient times to the twenty first century, all catalogued depending on the type of the occurrence, like a theft or natural disaster, or someone’s intention.
I loved the way Charney was placing the telling of one particular event as a thread that goes through the whole chapter, and every other story was like a bead on that thread.
Also his no bias attitude towards different art periods and genres. There is a a lot of different kind of art and one doesn’t make another less interesting.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truly an excellent read. Much like his 2015 publication (The Art of Forgery), this book is subdivided into categories, in this case, of types of lost art. The distinct division of the book makes it one that is easy to pick up and put down without worrying about losing one’s place in the story. Each chapter tells several anecdotes of lost art which are always entertaining. The historical context and photos that the author provides makes this book accessible to those who do not consider themselves art history buffs. Great read overall.

[Will Clemmons · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another oft overlooked part of art history put into story form by a writer (this time Charney) that could have done better in the hands of another. Still fascinating and a recommended read

[Anh Phan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literally about great works of arts, mostly in the West or Western imagination, lost in history due to politics, war, forgery, or disasters.

[Irina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A unique concept that I haven't encountered in my four years of studying art history in higher education. It is extremely well researched, endearing, engaging, fascinating and truly magnificent. It reveals the secrets of art, lost masterpieces, and most impressively, also provides rare illustrations. One of my new favourite books.

[Susan Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Noah Charney states that all of the art that has been lost is more than is curreNeely in the world's museums. He looks at art that we know of that has been lost to fire or flood. Some art we know of was destroyed by the buyer or subject. Other art we know of by hearsay, especially renaissance art. Someone was noted to have painted such and such a picture, well described, that has not been seen since. He talks about the looting of artifacts by ISIS and other terrorist groups to obtain money. There is also performance art that was meant to be transient. Stolen art always has a chance of being found again because a piece of art cannot give evidence against the perpetrator (unless it is found in his possession).
The author includes pictures of art that has disappeared, some of these are copies of an artwork by students or others. A fascinating look at the disappearance of art and some that has turned up that was thought forever lost. And some art that is only rumored to have existed.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, with excellent illustrations - particularly the colour ones - but not a substantial one - much ground is covered, many artists and building and artifacts and their fates are looked at but, it is a light read, anyone who knows anything more then a newspaper paragraph of information on this subject is bound to be disappointed. Of course it is always wonderful to be reminded of the, usually unnamed heroes, who saved Vasquez's Las Meninas from fire or who protected Van Eyck's Mystic Lamb from iconoclasts, or the Austrian miners who saved the countless works in the salt mine at Altaussee, but these stories have been covered in more detail in better books.

It is not a bad book and if it encourages a love of art and a desire to learn more then it is of course a good thing - but if you are a bit more knowledgeable then you will probably be disappointed.

[Nana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third of Charney’s ‘pop art history’ books that I’ve read and while it’s a good and interesting topic and has lots of intriguing stories within it, it suffers from the same issue as his previous The Art of Forgery. Namely, never diving that deep into most of the stories he tells here. So you get a great primer on many fascinating stories of lost, destroyed, stolen etc works of art throughout history, but you are left wanting more. But that’s probably the art historian in me, a more lay reader would probably be fine with this level of detail; hence four stars. Charney is a poetic and evocative writer and I’m glad he is still continuing this pop art history track with this book even if it is a little shallow.

[Elly Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bel saggio alla portata di tutti i culturi dell'arte.
Ho apprezzato lo stile scorrevole i capitoli brevi, le pagine sono intramezzate da illustrazioni inerenti a ciò di cui parla; ma soprattutto è pieno di spunti, con argomenti non banali, appassiona chi ama e per me avvicina chi è curioso.
L'unica nota dolente (mio parere),: ho trovato sgradevole le note raggruppate in fondo, personalmente trovo fastidioso se devo approfondire, il dover scorrere fino in fondo e cercare la nota; sono per altro non troppe e non avrebbero infastidito la mise en page.

[Giovanna Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great idea, a museum of lost art, as Charney describes - art lost, destroyed, looted, or did it ever exist (just a legend?). It was interesting to hear about ancient examples, as well as modern ones. Made me wonder how you can authenticate any 'ancient' art?!
The layout of the book really annoyed me. Photos and pages didn't coincide. It seemed like a lazy edit, could have been tighter, the editor did the author no favours, I felt the book could have been much better.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Considering the book was published by Phaidon, I expected more. The editing was atrocious - grammatical errors, sentences that were nonsense. Clearly, no one proofread this book. I found these issues distracted me from the content, which, honestly, wasn’t very well written in the first place.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Noah Charney’s The Museum of Lost Art is a heavily researched yet entertaining meditation upon the many ways works of art can suffer destruction and go missing (and sometimes be found again). The book is divided into chapters that discuss the various misfortunes that over many centuries have befallen works of art: some caused by man (War, Theft, Iconoclasm & Vandalism), others caused by nature (Accident, Acts of God). Within each chapter, Charney briefly describes specific cases of deliberate and accidental destruction and loss. Charney’s thesis in this book is that our understanding of the history of art is slanted because of missing links in the chain. Predictably enough, scholars have allowed their conclusions to be swayed by the works that are available to be examined, when sometimes a reasonable case can be made that, where an artist’s reputation or a specific artistic practice is concerned, a work (or works) that no longer exists has had far more impact, but its influence is downplayed or disregarded because it no longer exists or has been lost. The story of lost art is, of course, a fascinating one. Most of us have heard stories on the news of important works being stolen from galleries, or unexpectedly recovered in some fortuitous manner. For example, in 1994, brazenly and in broad daylight, Edvard Munch’s The Scream was stolen from the National Art Museum in Oslo. But hundreds of years earlier, nobody had thought of securing valuable works of art in an institutional setting. Art was owned by royalty or wealthy patrons, and iconic works hung in private parlours and dining rooms with little thought being given to security. Works were routinely lost to theft and fire, or sunk at sea, or looted by invading armies. More tragic yet are works that have been lost or destroyed because of murderous prejudice or a clash of ideologies (ie, Nazi Germany and ISIS). Charney also discusses works that were lost in ancient times and have since been restored through the efforts of archeologists, works deliberately destroyed by the artist who created them, and temporal works, created with the intention that they would not last. The Museum of Lost Art is persuasive and succeeds in engaging the reader in its alternative view of art history. It is also lavishly and beautifully produced and illustrated. It is unfortunate therefore that the text is marred by an astounding number of typographical errors.

[Arrel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr Charney imagines what a museum containing all art lost or destroyed or hidden over the centuries and he comes up with a pretty impressive collection. Overall fascinating reading for me because not only obvious losses like theft, including Nazi looting, fire, vandalism and crazed kooks, but also intentionally temporary works, those painted or plastered over by the artists themselves or other artists (Vasari and da Vinci in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio - maybe), intentional destruction by artists themselves or their patrons and more - you keep reading and turning pages and he keeps coming up with more ways to lose and/or destroy art! Among the saddest to me is self-destruction of otherwise timeless artwork by artists themselves, including Sandro Botticelli's contribution of his paintings to Savonarola's Bonfire of the Vanities in Renaissance Florence. The list goes on and on - Tsarskoe Celo's Amber Room and more.

I found it both entertaining and educational in terms of specific missing or destroyed art pieces, in addition to a thoughtful consideration of all the ways to destroy art. It continues to this day, of course. I recommend it to anyone interested in the arts and who wants to be mindful of what we can no longer appreciate. A bright side is that lots of art has been recovered and the search goes on.

[PoligirlReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a funky format, and even funkier editing, but it's a great read. What an interesting concept for a book! It's almost a dangerous thought experiment, in that it's a recipe for losing hours of time just thinking about what treasures might be hoarded somewhere, or what might pop up on Antiques Roadshow.

Because he's all about quantity, and because this book would otherwise be 2,000+ pages, Charney only gives an overview of the missing pieces of art and their artists. It's actually quite nice, but it means that I've made all sorts of notes to myself about other topics I'd like to read, like Worth and his Pinkerton counterpart.

He raises an interesting question about art that it is only presumed to be lost. The idea that stories about lost art can get lost or augmented in the oral tradition is a convincing one.

It didn't happen in time, but it would've been interesting to get Charney's take on Banksy's shredded art prank.

I would've liked footnotes rather than endnotes, but it doesn't distract too much. Overall, a nice read and I'd like to read more by this author.

[Karl · Rating 1 out of 5]

"One of the great frustrations of studying art history is to learn how many marvellous-sounding works are lost" (Charney: 160).

This book wants to explain the reasons why art gets lost, how it has been retrieved and what this lost art means to art history. To do so, the book provides hundreds of examples.

The main problem I see with this book lies on the fact that most of the examples are widely known/popular for any art historian student or graduate (Cornelius Gurlitt, Jewish War, Alcazar blaze, Savonarola, Pompeii...). In my opinion this makes the book repetitive, unimpressive and boring. To make matters worse, some of the reasons as to why art gets lost are too obvious (war, fire, earthquake..).

The book should have been advertised as a dictionary of lost art, because what you end up getting is a collection of all the possible reasons and examples of lost art (plus some grammatical and spelling mistakes, which you shouldn't expect in a Phaidon book).

Conclusion: nothing really new here.

[John Hardy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this claims to be about lost art, it's also about found art that was lost. I was expecting more about art theft, and perhaps war looting, but there are a lot more types of losses. Buried and found again, destroyed by the artist, the owner, or by terrorists, deliberately hidden, and painted over to cover something up.
It includes some art works which may not have even existed, such as the Hanging Gardens. Other Wonders get a mention, which I didn't expect - the definition of an art work is very broad in this book. Too broad, in my opinion. An artist built a lifesize dolls house. When it got dilapidated, she burned it down, creating a new artwork - the photo of a burning building. These are some of the negatives which earn this book a lower rating.
There are lots of pictures, which is a bonus, and the readers may expand their views about what constitutes art. It is a very surface treatment, however, so in the end, it's a rating 2.9.

[Tara Redd · Rating 3 out of 5]

At points, the book seems kind of like a laundry list of interesting anecdotes about lost art. Some of the stories are great, like Michaelangelo's sprezzatura, but the way the book is organized makes it seem fragmented. I think this strategy of museum-like organization in text is hard to pull off. And it's weird because it doesn't seem like a paper museum--a book for browsing--it's sort of trying for both and ending with none. Basically it reminded me that I want to read Vasari.
I think the book I was hoping for would be titled, "An Alternative Art History Through Lost Art" because the idea of counteracting bias towards the accessible and surviving works is really interesting, I'm just not sure how exactly you would pull that off.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Museum of Lost Art" provides some good information about notable works that have been lost (or, as one chapter asserts, maybe never existed at all) from various culprits: war, theft, natural disasters, destroyed on purpose, etc... This organization scheme was pretty solid.
Charney does have an over-abundance of typos and grammatical errors, which greatly distracts and lessens the quality of the work. Also, I thought Charney tries overly hard to make it read more like a novel; ironically I would almost say this idea would have worked better as a coffee table book, in which each lost artwork is given it's own page in a more easy-to-read format.
Still, if one has an interest in art history and art that has disappeared, this book has enough to recommend it.

[Servabo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine a museum of lost art. it would contain more masterpieces than all the world's museums combined. From the treasures of Rome to the library of Alexandria, a museum of lost art provides a cutting reminder of the fragility of the world's treasures. Many of humanity's greatest artworks have been lost to theft, vandalism, iconoclasm, misfortune and willful or inadvertent destruction. Still more have disappeared, at the mercy of thieves, with only a silver eventually recovered. It is important to study what has been lost and why, to understand how art can best be preserved in the future, to appreciate what has survived and just how delicate is that miraculous fraction of mankind's creative history that has endured for centuries or even millennia.

[Heep · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like books like this that take an unconventional approach to a common subject and filled with interesting anecdotes. The topic of lost art is fascinating and invites reflection about why some creative work survives while the majority is consumed by the passage of time. In more adroit hands, it would be the basis for a profound work. The present book lacks a certain cohesion and philosophical gravitas. It is more amusing than penetrating. Be that as it may, it is a fast and fun read with plenty of good stories and pictures of great art - all tinged with some sadness. Where are all the missing Michelangelo drawings and Botticelli paintings? Probably lost forever, but how wonderful it would have been to see them.

[josé almeida · Rating 4 out of 5]

a premissa é um autêntico ovo de colombo: imagina um museu com toda a arte que se perdeu. pois... certamente conteria mais obras-primas do que todos os museus do mundo juntos.
a partir daí basta pensar no que foi destruído pelos próprios autores, naquilo que se deteriorou, no que se perdeu em guerras e vandalismos, no que desapareceu em furtos, incêndios e catástrofes sortidas - e tem-se um acervo quase infinito. charney enumera alguns episódios conhecidos, outros nem tanto, e num belo livro de arte (a phaidon é sempre uma garantia), bem escrito e profusamente ilustrado a cores, oferece-nos um bilhete para a maior exposição de todos os tempos. como resistir?

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite exhibiting a few stark editing and proofreading flaws (especially surprising in a book with the evident publishing budget of this one) The Museum of Lost Art ended up being quite an engrossing read, beautifully designed and presented.

The survey of lost art is grouped into the categories: 'theft', 'war', 'accident', 'iconoclasm and vandalism', 'acts of God', 'temporal works', 'destroyed by owner', 'buried and exhumed', and 'lost or never was?'

Aside from the intrigue, the book also provides insights about the value and significance of art to humanity and culture - telling us something about humans as art-making (and art hording, destroying and losing) creatures.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Noah Charney's approachable yet informed style of writing. He writes on the most interesting topics, too, and I like how this book explores different aspects of how art can be "lost." My only minor complaint is that I first was thrown off with the flow of the book, since each section in the book begins and ends with the same story/object. But it made sense as I continued to read and I loved learning more about this topic. Charney even explores little-known history regarding famous works of art, like Masaccio's "Holy Trinity."

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book of lost art....thick paper with prints of the art work. A nice book to climb into--- though the author spends more time explaining HOW lost is art, and uses examples of actual art work to illustrate the methods art gets lost. I found it quite thought provoking...so many ways that art is lost that I didn't even consider...artists that request their friend destroys their art at their death, artist who redo another artist's work....natural disasters, governments...war.

Read if you have any interest in art.

2021 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge: A book about art or an artist

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a quick read and didn't stay on any one topic of ways to be lost or a particular artwork for too long. By doing so the author kept it short and to the point where your mind does not wander off. I have always loved art, particularly "classic" art, and am not overly keen on abstract work. This drizzling of information about a variety of art pieces, styles, and artists was very satisfactory. Especially considering I have never read a book about art before.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually the Noah Charney audiobook I listened to as ‘Lost Art: The Story of Missing Masterpieces’. It’s not on Goodreads so I’m tagging this one instead. He uses the term ‘Museum of Lost Art’ a lot in the one I listened to as well. I did learn a lot in the 5-6 hour audiibook but it was not one I was really caught up in. I mainly use my Goodreads reviews to remind myself of why I gave books the ratings I did.

[Hildie Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a delightful art book! The full-color pictures included with their descriptions and situations made this book an enchanting read. It's set up in sections such as Theft, War, Iconoclasm and more, and is a thorough and detailed history of lost (and sometimes recovered) art. It's a nonfiction and an art history book that will appeal to anyone who likes art and is curious about the world's treasures that may still be out there. I really enjoyed this book!