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The Vanishing Velázquez
- A 19th Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost Masterpiece
- Narrated by: Siobhan Redmond
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
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Publisher's summary
From one of the world's most expert art critics, the incredible true story - part art history and part mystery - of a Velázquez portrait that went missing and the obsessed 19th-century bookseller determined to prove he had found it.
When John Snare, a 19th-century provincial bookseller, traveled to a liquidation auction, he stumbled on a vivid portrait of King Charles I that defied any explanation. The Charles of the painting was young - too young to be king - and yet also too young to be painted by the Flemish painter to which the work was attributed. Snare had found something incredible - but what?
His research brought him to Diego Velázquez, whose long-lost portrait of Prince Charles has eluded art experts for generations. Velázquez (1599-1660) was the official painter of the Madrid court during the time the Spanish Empire teetered on the edge of collapse. When Prince Charles of England - a man wealthy enough to help turn Spain's fortunes - ventured to the court to propose a marriage with a Spanish princess, he allowed just a few hours to sit for his portrait. Snare believed only Velázquez could have met this challenge. But in making his theory public, Snare was ostracized, victim to aristocrats and critics who accused him of fraud, and forced to choose, like Velázquez himself, between art and family.
A thrilling investigation into the complex meaning of authenticity and the unshakable determination that drives both artists and collectors of their work, The Vanishing Velázquez travels from extravagant Spanish courts in the 1700s to the gritty courtrooms and auction houses of 19th-century London and New York. But it is above all a tale of mystery and detection, of tragic mishaps and mistaken identities, of class, politics, snobbery, crime, and almost farcical accident. It is a magnificently crafted pause resister, a testimony to how and why great works of art can affect us to the point of obsession.
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- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.
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an incredible and complex story unfolds seamlessly
- By Jeremiah on 10-31-05
By: Jonathan Harr
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The Greater Journey
- Americans in Paris
- By: David McCullough
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 16 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The Greater Journey is the enthralling, inspiring—and until now, untold—story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, architects, and others of high aspiration who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, ambitious to excel in their work.
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McCullough takes it to the next level
- By gregory m loyd on 07-12-11
By: David McCullough
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What Are You Looking At?
- The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art
- By: Will Gompertz
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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What is modern art? Who started it? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it such big money? Join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art.
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A simply wonderful book with a serious flaw
- By 11104 on 05-02-21
By: Will Gompertz
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Leonardo and the Last Supper
- By: Ross King
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Early in 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began work in Milan on what would become one of history's most influential and beloved works of art - The Last Supper. After a dozen years at the court of Lodovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point personally and professionally: at 43, in an era when he had almost reached the average life expectancy, he had failed, despite a number of prestigious commissions, to complete anything that truly fulfilled his astonishing promise.
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Informative yet creative
- By Isabellabasil on 05-27-15
By: Ross King
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The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
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Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
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David Lynch
- The Man from Another Place (Icons)
- By: Dennis Lim
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
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Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
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What the Ermine Saw
- The Extraordinary Journey of Leonardo da Vinci's Most Mysterious Portrait
- By: Eden Collinsworth
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Five hundred and thirty years ago, a young woman sat before a Grecian-nosed artist known as Leonardo da Vinci. Her name was Cecilia Gallerani, and she was the young mistress of Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan. Sforza was a brutal and clever man who was mindful that Leonardo’s genius would not only capture Cecilia’s beguiling beauty but also reflect the grandeur of his title. But when the portrait was finished, Leonardo’s brush strokes had conveyed something deeper by revealing the essence of Cecilia’s soul.
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So Many Names
- By Sue Solomon on 12-13-22
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Proust's Duchess
- How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-Siecle Paris
- By: Caroline Weber
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 29 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Geneviève Halévy Bizet Straus; Laure de Sade, Comtesse de Adhéaume de Chevigné; and Élisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, the Comtesse Greffulhe--these were the three superstars of fin-de-siècle Parisian high society who, as Caroline Weber says, "transformed themselves, and were transformed by those around them, into living legends: paragons of elegance, nobility, and style."
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Enthralling, entertaining and brilliant
- By Uli Baer on 01-14-19
By: Caroline Weber
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Eye of the Beholder
- Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing
- By: Laura Snyder
- Narrated by: Tamara Marston
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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"See for yourself!" was the clarion call of the 1600s. Natural philosophers threw off the yoke of ancient authority, peered at nature with microscopes and telescopes, and ignited the scientific revolution. Artists investigated nature with lenses and created paintings filled with realistic effects of light and shadow. The hub of this optical innovation was the small Dutch city of Delft.
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Historical book about the evolution of optics through the eyes of two geniuses
- By Memi on 04-12-17
By: Laura Snyder
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Known and Strange Things
- Essays
- By: Teju Cole
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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With this collection of more than 50 pieces on politics, photography, travel, history, and literature, Teju Cole solidifies his place as one of today's most powerful and original voices. Minute after minute, deploying prose dense with beauty and ideas, he finds fresh and potent ways to interpret art, people, and historical moments, taking in subjects from Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare, and W. G. Sebald to Instagram, Barack Obama, and Boko Haram.
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A Book that Teaches and Shares
- By Carolyn J. on 10-08-17
By: Teju Cole
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The Curse of Beauty
- The Scandalous & Tragic Life of Audrey Munson, America's First Supermodel
- By: James Bone
- Narrated by: Marianne Fraulo
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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As America was stepping into the modern era, one great beauty became the artist's model of choice. Her perfect form became the emblem of the Gilded Age and appears on the greatest monuments of New York and the nation. Supermodel, actress, icon - her beauty paved the way for a life of glamour, passion, and ultimately tragedy. Her name is Audrey Munson.
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Fascinating
- By Аmazon Customer on 04-06-17
By: James Bone
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In Five Days Gone, Laura Cumming brilliantly unspools the tale of her mother’s life and unravels the multiple mysteries at its core. Using photographs from the time, historical documents, and works of art, Cumming investigates this case of stolen identity with the tool set of a detective and the unique intimacy of a daughter trying to understand her family’s past and its legacies. Compulsive, vivid, and profoundly touching, Five Days Gone is a masterful blend of memoir and history, an extraordinary personal narrative unlike any other.
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Might have been a better read than a listen....
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Isabella Stewart Gardner’s museum, with its plain exterior enfolding an astonishing four-story Italian palazzo, rose from Boston’s Fens at the turn of the twentieth century. Its treasures encompassed not only masterwork paintings but tapestries, rare books, prints, porcelains, and fine furniture.
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A scrumptious, colorful adventure. Must read
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Isabella Stewart Gardner’s museum, with its plain exterior enfolding an astonishing four-story Italian palazzo, rose from Boston’s Fens at the turn of the twentieth century. Its treasures encompassed not only masterwork paintings but tapestries, rare books, prints, porcelains, and fine furniture.
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What listeners say about The Vanishing Velázquez
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- RO Academy
- 05-13-23
Wow! So glad I listened to this!
Great story, Very intriguing on so many levels. I picked this up because I’m traveling to Spain and I wanted to learn about Spanish art. I learned about so much more. Great reader too.
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- Luis
- 05-09-16
Grrat book
Awesome. Rich in historical detail. Thrilling and intriguing from beginning to end. Can't wait to read other works from this author.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Julia Felix
- 05-22-17
Interesting but not very straightforward
I was intrigued by the description of this book, and was caught off guard when, within the first couple of hours, it seemed the Velasquez had been found and proven! I thought to myself, "what is she going to talk about for another 6 hours?" Of course, to my delight it turned out to be more complicated than just that, but I still ended up finishing this book feeling a little confused.
While the author explains in great detail the life and struggles of John Snair, she also goes on long tangents describing and interpreting other works, not just by Velasquez, but other painters. It is somewhat relevant to be story in the sense of understanding what made this painting appear to be a Velasquez, and what made it stand out from other works, but I often found myself not remembering what was going on in John Snair's story by the time she was done with her romanticisms, and by the end of the book I realized I have no idea what actually ended up happening with the painting (though there was an exciting story about Las Meninas being saved from a fire towards the end).
So I'm ultimately a little disappointed, as I don't really think I want to listen to the last 4 hours over again to figure out what I feel should have been a little more central and obvious. Still, lots of interesting facts, especially if you've taken some art history classes in your lifetime.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Susan fossen
- 07-13-16
Art history buff
I liked the premise. Being visual - it was hard to follow but I enjoyed the story and it gave me lots of insight into the importance of provenance- I think I might buy the book and read it .
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kathryn M.
- 06-05-22
Amazing book, excellent performance
For any art fan, this is a must. Excellently researched and very entertaining. Voice performance is wonderful and adds to the experience.
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- Ron
- 07-02-16
A fascinating study of art history
I have to admit that, at first, I was only a little intrigued by this book. I also found the narrators accent somewhat difficult in the beginning. But before long I found myself deeply drawn into the mystery, the cultural surroundings of the artist and the collector, the beautiful, almost poetic, discussions of the artists style, the historical perspective, the writing, and the unique lilt of the narrators speech pattern which, as I progressed through the book I found I enjoyed more and more. This book delves into many layers of obsessions and art, how those intertwine, and have been perceived across time. I found the writing illuminating, passionate, and extremely well researched, as well as thought provoking, and lovingly crafted. Of course seeing anything as a masterpiece is purely in the eye of the beholder, and frankly, I am still coming to grips with my personal felling a about Velazquez, but I have a new perspective on him and his works, thanks to Laura Cumming and Siobhan Redmond, who have very masterfully brought him and this enchanting story to my attention.
The story of Mr. Snare and his obsession with this one painting is most skillfully presented, well highlighting the enormous difficulty in really defining such a seemingly illusory yet real character.
I enjoyed this book a lot.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Jody R. Nathan
- 04-14-16
would have been nice to have pdfs of the photos
lots of long discussions about pictures that you have to look up on the internet, if you can figure out the right name and spelling. . .
So, its annoying to hear about pictures you should be able to see.
I ended up skipping parts. . . . but it was good.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Scott
- 09-26-16
Art history light
The book is a wonderful story about a printer under the spell of a master work. The book does a great job of explaining art history and collecting practices of the past. The passion of the main figure speaks to contemp
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1 person found this helpful
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- BCC Hiker
- 05-11-17
Boring!
What was most disappointing about Laura Cumming’s story?
Way too much irrelevant detail. The book dragged. Sounded more like a thesis than an engaging story.
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- Brukz
- 05-15-16
I could not get past the narrator's voice.
Would you try another book from Laura Cumming and/or Siobhan Redmond?
Laura Cumming - yes, Siobhan Redmond - no
Would you be willing to try another book from Laura Cumming? Why or why not?
yes, I have the Kindle edition and find the subject matter interesting.
What didn’t you like about Siobhan Redmond’s performance?
I found her accent and cadence to be grating.
Any additional comments?
I will read the book on Kindle but won't listen to it on Audible.
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2 people found this helpful