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Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece by Noah Charney
lazy_raven's review against another edition
4.0
I love art conservation and I loved Monuments Men. This is the best of both. Gives you first hand accounts of the life of the Gent Alter Piece up until its most recent conservation. From the presumed artists and the many many times its been stolen and taken apart. And how art has been seen during different time periods.
quiltmom14's review against another edition
1.0
Only made it to 25% and barely that. This is an amazing story - a painting the size of a barn wall that endured 13 attempts to harm it throughout history - and the abysmal writing makes that boooooorrrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnggggg. The amount of research here, presented in the most basic, unedited, slog-prose, completely overwhelmed me with its deep dives in to absolute minutiae. I tried for a week to “get into” this book, I read (fascinating) news stories about the current attempts at restoration, looked up photos of the work etc and enjoyed all my side-forays in to the story....but not the one on paper before me. Very disappointing across the board. Don’t bother.
smjohns91's review against another edition
4.0
I read Stealing the Mystic Lamb after scouring the Philadelphia Museum of Art museum store and finding this gem. I was reading The Art Forager when I found this and I was so excited to read a perspective of a real-life art heist.
I first learned about the Ghent Altarpiece, or the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb in freshmen year art history class, and I'm still amazed that the huge work (both in scope and size) was able to be stolen thirteen times, and is debatably still not all found. The twelve panels of the polyptych form such an important work to the history of art that it's kind of incredible that it's been so well preserved for all of the trauma it's gone through.
The book read like a text book, which I didn't find off-putting. It was only when it got to WWII and the Monuments Men that I really had to push through and finish it. I'd recommend Stealing the Mystic Lamb to anyone interested in art, history, or famous mysteries.
I first learned about the Ghent Altarpiece, or the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb in freshmen year art history class, and I'm still amazed that the huge work (both in scope and size) was able to be stolen thirteen times, and is debatably still not all found. The twelve panels of the polyptych form such an important work to the history of art that it's kind of incredible that it's been so well preserved for all of the trauma it's gone through.
The book read like a text book, which I didn't find off-putting. It was only when it got to WWII and the Monuments Men that I really had to push through and finish it. I'd recommend Stealing the Mystic Lamb to anyone interested in art, history, or famous mysteries.
caroparr's review against another edition
3.0
The fascinating story of the Ghent Altarpiece and its myriad misfortunes is not well served by this book. The details are there in abundance, but there's not much life. I'm looking forward to reading "The Monuments Men" and harkening back to "The Goldfinch."
emaproblema's review
I will return to it, I just didn’t finish it before it was time to return it to the library because I was in grad school.
tinabaich's review against another edition
1.0
Stealing the Mystic Lamb is an account of the many crimes perpetrated against the Ghent Alterpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. This book represents exactly the kind of non-fiction I don't enjoy. Rather than the "riveting narrative" claimed on the back of the book, I found Mystic Lamb to be a a dry, and sometimes repetitious, presentation of facts. The detailed description of the piece and background history of Jan van Eyck, the artist, and the city of Ghent became tedious to me. I kept plowing forward hoping the narrative would become more engaging when I got to the thefts. However, I finally lost my patience when I reached page 79 and the story of the first theft was set to begin. Instead, the author regressed into a primer on the French Revolution. For what I think was the third time, Charney decided it would be "useful" to digress into a history lesson before coming to his point. I come from a history background, but was frustrated that the topic the book promised to address had still not come to the forefront. Unfortunately, I have too many book on my TBR pile to continue slogging through Stealing the Mystic Lamb hoping for an engaging story. A true art historian may find Stealing the Mystic Lamb a fascinating read, but I'm leaving this book unfinished.
http://iubookgirl.blogspot.com/2010/09/stealing-mystic-lamb.html
http://iubookgirl.blogspot.com/2010/09/stealing-mystic-lamb.html
melanie_reads's review against another edition
3.0
I think you can only read this book if you're mildly obsessed with art theft (which I am) and/or weird Nazi crimes. Interesting, but definitely more academic than thriller.
claudiaswisher's review
4.0
"Art is a symbolic magnet for nationalism, more so than any flag. Artworks resemble lambs in an open field by night. The nations are the shepherds.Their ability or failure to defent the lambs, not only from midnight wolves but also from other thieving shepherds, is a sign of their country's strengths."
HUndreds of years' of art history, all revolving around THE LAMB, the Mystic Lamb, the Altarpiece of Ghent. I read the wildly popular MONUMENTS MEN first, and say Charney interviewed in a program about the WWII efforts to reclaim national art from the Nazis. This piece was highlighted, but as one of several.
This book gives us a look at the thefts of this piece through the years...Everyone seems to want it, and no one seems able to protect it. Napoleon, Kaisers, and Nazis. But the most damage was done at the hands of private thieves. One of the panels of the piece was stolen between the world wars and has never been found...or has it??
I think the team in charge of illustrations in the book let the author and the story and the Lamb down. I needed more close-up, full-color illustrations...I needed the full panels to NOT be dissected by the pages themselves. The Lamb disappeared into the folds of the picture.
I wanted more discussion of the symbolism.
Those are minor quibbles, tho to a book that shared the Mystic Lamb with the world. Now I need to see it in person.
HUndreds of years' of art history, all revolving around THE LAMB, the Mystic Lamb, the Altarpiece of Ghent. I read the wildly popular MONUMENTS MEN first, and say Charney interviewed in a program about the WWII efforts to reclaim national art from the Nazis. This piece was highlighted, but as one of several.
This book gives us a look at the thefts of this piece through the years...Everyone seems to want it, and no one seems able to protect it. Napoleon, Kaisers, and Nazis. But the most damage was done at the hands of private thieves. One of the panels of the piece was stolen between the world wars and has never been found...or has it??
I think the team in charge of illustrations in the book let the author and the story and the Lamb down. I needed more close-up, full-color illustrations...I needed the full panels to NOT be dissected by the pages themselves. The Lamb disappeared into the folds of the picture.
I wanted more discussion of the symbolism.
Those are minor quibbles, tho to a book that shared the Mystic Lamb with the world. Now I need to see it in person.
classysmarta's review against another edition
2.5. DNF I couldn’t finish this book. I naturally loved the first hundred pages where it went in depth about the art history but an entire history about anytime anyone touched the painting and the entire history of the world going on while they looted or looked at the object is too much.