The Eye

An Insider's Memoir of Masterpieces, Money, and the Magnetism of Art

By: Philippe Costamagna, Frank Wynne (Translator)

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Hardcover | 16 August 2018

At a Glance

Hardcover
256 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.9 x 13.9 x 2.2

Hardcover

$56.75

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"Exhilarating and informative ... Mr. Costamagna is catholic in his enthusiasm and is open to the new. He tells delicious stories."
--The Wall Street Journal

It's a rare and secret profession, comprising a few dozen people around the world equipped with a mysterious mixture of knowledge and innate sensibility. Summoned to Swiss bank vaults, Fifth Avenue apartments, and Tokyo storerooms, they are entrusted by collectors, dealers, and museums to decide if a coveted picture is real or fake and to determine if it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci or Raphael. The Eye lifts the veil on the rarified world of connoisseurs devoted to the authentication and discovery of Old Master artworks. This is an art adventure story and a memoir all in one, written by a leading expert on the Renaissance whose m tier is a high-stakes detective game involving massive amounts of money and frenetic activity in the service of the art market and scholarship alike. It's also an eloquent argument for the enduring value of visual creativity, told with passion, brilliance, and surprising candor.

Industry Reviews

"By placing connoisseurship back at the very center of art history, Philippe Costamagna weaves a fascinating tale and brilliantly highlights the enduring power of intuition and expertise in the visual arts today." --Salvatore Settis, chairman of the Louvre Museum Scientific Council and author of If Venice Dies "Initiates us with quiet elegance, part historical essay, part autobiographical account, enriched by a thousand anecdotes, The Eye follows its meandering path to our great delight." --Le Monde "Passionate and often funny ... This work is very rich." --La Tribune de l'Art "As thrilling as a police novel." --La Croix "Chapters full of tasty anecdotes." --Il Foglio "By placing connoisseurship back at the very center of art history, Philippe Costamagna weaves a fascinating tale and brilliantly highlights the enduring power of intuition and expertise in the visual arts today." --Salvatore Settis, chairman of the Louvre Museum Scientific Council and author of If Venice Dies"Initiates us with quiet elegance, part historical essay, part autobiographical account, enriched by a thousand anecdotes, The Eye follows its meandering path to our great delight."--Le Monde "Passionate and often funny ... This work is very rich."--La Tribune de l'Art "As thrilling as a police novel."--La Croix

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