Reader’s Den

June 2014 Reader's Den: "The Judgment of Paris" by Ross King, Part 3

Other recommended works:

The Girl Who Loved Camellias by Julie Kavanagh
The fascinating history of Marie DuPlessis chronicles the life of the courtesan who inspired Alexandre Dumas fils’s novel and play La dame aux camélias, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata, George Cukor’s film Camille, and Frederick Ashton’s ballet Marguerite and Armand. Sarah Bernhardt, Eleonora Duse, Greta Garbo, Isabelle Huppert, Maria Callas, Anna Netrebko, and Margot Fonteyn are just a few of the celebrated actors, singers, and dancers who have portrayed her. Kavanagh, a writer for The Economist’s cultural magazine Intelligent Life, uncovers previously unknown facts about the life of DuPlessis and weaves them into an account that is compellingly readable.

Venice: A New History by Thomas F. Madden
Like Ross King, Thomas F. Madden is a history of professor who found a way to work in and study the city they love the most, Paris and Venice, respectively. Madden focuses on the political and military history of Venice before he delves into its artistic and architectural contributions.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
A novel about Theo Decker, a young boy living in New York City who survives his mother's death and father's abandonment, then is taken in by his friend's family. He becomes captivated by a small, mysterious painting that draws him into the art underworld. Carel Fabritius's original titular painting has achieved new notoriety thanks to Donna Tartt's book.

The Art Forger by Barbara A. Shapiro
A novel about the largest unsolved art heist in history, in 1990, when thirteen works of art today worth over $500 million were taken from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Claire enters into a deceitful relationship with Aiden Markel, a gallery owner, and comes to learn about the dark world of forgery.