Masterpiece of Deception: An Art Mystery - Softcover

Lester, Judy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1894549104 ISBN 13: 9781894549103

Publisher: Sumach Press, 2001

Synopsis

Jerry has just embarked on a career as an art restorer, working as a freelancer but eagerly applying for positions in the museums of Toronto and London. Among her clients is a prestigious dealer who has given her a seventeenth-century painting to restore and prepare for auction. As Jerry removes modern overpaint, working meticulously through the first layer, she wonders why the oil paint below is so sensitive to solvents. A genuine painting of this era wouldn't respond in quite such a way to her treatment. She takes a tiny sample of the painting to a conservation laboratory where microscopic and x-ray analysis suggest that below the surface paint, is another painting which may actually be the work of a Dutch master. Jerry slowly uncovers another painting underneath the first surface. Still, she has her doubts and wants to try one final procedure to confirm the painting's true age. But her client refuses, and takes it to auction where it is declared authentic.

Suddenly Jerry finds herself in danger; an attempt is made on her life. Someone is trying to silence her, but why? And what can she do about it? Determined to dig more deeply into the mystery, Jerry travels to Europe in a search for the truth about the painting's authenticity.

Written by a professional art restorer who specializes in historical oil painting materials and techniques, Masterpiece of Deception is a fast-paced mystery that takes the reader behind the fascinating scenes of art restoration and into the high-stakes world of art fraud.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author: Judy Lester is the pen name of Dr. Leslie Carlyle. Lester received her master's degree in Paintings Conservation at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and her PhD from the Conservation Department of the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. Originally a paintings restorer and an internationally recognized researcher of historical oil painting materials and techniques, Carlyle is the Head of Conservation at the Tate Gallery in London, England. She is the author of The Artist's Assistant: Oil Painting Instruction Manuals and Handbooks in Britain 1800-1900, With Reference to Selected Eighteenth-Century Sources. (Archetype Publications). Masterpiece of Deception is her first suspense novel.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sumach Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1894549104
• ISBN 13: 9781894549103
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 181