The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr

Books by accomplished journalists, and second books by best-selling authors are sometimes edited more lightly than others. The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathan Harr is such a book. Harr's second book -- his first was the 1997 chart-topper, A Civil Action -- is a good book that could have been great.

Misplaced Caravaggio.
The Lost Painting is the true story of the discovery of Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ, a powerful work executed for the patrician Mattei family of Rome in 1602. Later misattributed to Gerrit van Honthorst, a Dutch follower of Caravaggio, it was sold in 1802 to Scotsman William Hamilton Nisbet, in whose home it hung until 1921, when it went to auction and "disappeared".

Found and Restored.
The Lost Painting is principally the story of Sergio Benedetti, an Italian art restorer working at the National Gallery of Ireland, who recognized the painting in the Dublin home of some Jesuit priests; of Francesca Cappelletti, an art student who uncovered new information about its provenance in the Mattei family archives; and of Dennis Mahon, the eminent British art historian who guided both. It includes masterful "flashbacks" that bring Caravaggio, the bad-boy genius of the seicento, colorfully to life. And it explores without technicality the process of restoring an old masterpiece.

Hard Story to Write.
Jonathan Harr tells this fascinating tale in clear, uncomplicated prose (I listened to the unabridged audio edition narrated by Campbell Scott). But the book is slow to get underway -- Harr's hard start should have been expunged at Random House -- and bogs down frequently in picayune personal details that don't develop the characters or the story. More troublesome is Harr's inability to clearly distinguish hard facts from suppositional fiction. Harr needs to go to school to McCullough, Morris, or Goodwin to see how to write history that reads like a novel. Russell Shorto's The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan, the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America proves a journalist can do it.

Focus, Focus, Focus.
Harr spent a lot of time writing The Lost Painting, learning art history and Italian in the process. But he spent too much time with the "characters" he likes, particularly Francesca, and not enough with those he doesn't, like the more important Sergio. The Lost Painting is a good book that could have been great had Harr kept his distance from the characters and got closer to his editor.

Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times

H. W. Brands' new book, Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times, gives Jackson a full and sympathetic treatment that firmly places him in the pantheon of great Americans, but not on the same footing as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson.

A Rousing Read
Brands, whose story-telling skills have increased with each outing -- his last was the well-received The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin  -- paints Jackson's rough and tumble biography in lively, sometimes inspiring prose that makes this long book an easy read. (I listened to it in the unabridged audio version narrated by John H. Mayer.)  He's quick to credit Jackson for his two best traits -- an unwavering belief in participatory democracy, and an unshakeable devotion to the American union.  But he doesn't flinch when calling out Jackson for small-minded and unprincipled behavior.

Pugnacious War Hero
Jackson, who almost single-handedly annexed Florida to the United States, and whose military acumen and tenacity won the battle of New Orleans against overwhelming British skill and manpower, was a popular war hero in his time.  But he was pugnacious, engaging in street brawls, duels, and canings until too old to be a bully.  And he often acted for the country based on his own beliefs -- despite explicit orders to the contrary.

Dictorial Democrat
Sometimes haled as the first true democrat, Jackson expressed complete confidence in the will of the people, but, like other powerful leaders, came to believe his opinions best expressed that people's will.  A strong unionist at a time when many Southerners were leaning toward secession, he was a mystical, not rational unionist.  He ignored the logical advice and counsel of others about preserving the union when it didn't mesh with his thinking or came from people he didn't like.

Roots of Devotion, Democracry
Brands' biography makes it pretty clear that Jackson's single-minded devotion to the union and his willingness to act without orders derived from his mother, whose bravery in facing down the British and rescuing her captured sons from two enemy prisons would be remarkable even today.  But at book's end, Jackson's belief in democracy is still a mystery.  He was literate, but not a scholar or thinker.  He was a lawyer, but barely.  He commanded by fiat, not consensus.  The antecedents shout dictator; the facts say democracy.  Go figure!