"The Lost Painting"

[fiefoe]

With the level of mundane details Jonathan Harr provides, this could be a detective novel. Driving on I95 tonight, I suddenly caught myself taking in a description of a certain small restaurant in Rome, where the tablecloths are changed only once a week, but covered with butcher papers to keep them clean.

Memorable trivia and phrases are few and far in between:

• The first physical description of Caravaggio comes from a police report. (It's not surprising that he only lived for 39 years.)
• Contemporary critics considered Caravaggio's work indecorous because he drew pilgrims with dirty feet.
  
• Ruskin on Baroque art: 'partly despicable, partly disgusting, partly ridiculous'.
  
• A newspaper like 'Arte Dossier' can be brought from newsstands in Italy. {What would be its English counterpart?}
  
• 'a tossed salad of an inventory'
• 'the delirium of research'
  

Campbell Scott's rich voice is a plus.