Quattrocento

by James McKean

Book Overview

Matt O'Brien, an assistant curator and art restorer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has always been passionate about the Italian Renaissance. But when he discovers a long-neglected portrait of a beautiful woman among the museum's miles of storage bins, he becomes obsessed--and not only because he suspects that the painting is by Leonardo da Vinci. Something about the mysterious woman's exquisite face stirs his memory, and when Matt finds himself...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385721307
• ISBN13: 9780385721301
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Not Perfect, But ....

As previous reviews note, this is not a perfect book. It is, however, a clever and beautifully written one. The way that Matt - aware of the low-key, easily-overlooked disjunctures occurring around him, but not of their import - eases without intention into his travel through time, is unique and interesting. The smooth interweaving of a wonderful amount of information about music and painting is not only necessary to the story but fascinating, and goes down very easily: no stop-and-lecture points for our hero. And the writing itself asks gently but insistently for one's full attention.I am a high-speed devourer of books who is impatient with excess and who hates bad writing. Even with the best of books, I tend to skip lines or even paragraphs sometimes. But I might have actually read every word of this book; I did not want to miss any of the imagery and the grace of language. While reading, I was even consciously aware of doing something I do extremely rarely: slowing down deliberately in order to picture more clearly the images and ideas Mr. McKean was offering to me. And they were almost never disappointing.In the end, I find myself left with only two concerns: first, what happened to Orlando? and second, will Mr. McKean write again? If he does, I for one will be more than ready to sample his talents again.

A Timeless Love

Quattrocento, the first novel by luthier James N. McKean, is a thoroughly engrossing love story about an art restorer who falls in love with the fifteenth century portrait of a beautiful woman. The story, which involves time travel to fifteenth century Italy, is filled with wonderful, accurate detail about art, and gorgeous descriptions of both past and present. McKean is clearly very knowledgeable about art and art history, and the details he provides about art and the process of creating art lend a realistic quality to the story. The book is first and foremost, however, a love story. While there is plenty of poetic and descriptive prose, yet the book moves at a fast pace and has a lot of action and suspense. Once I started reading this book I found I could not put it down, and finished it in two days. I recommend it to anyone who has a passion for art, romance, or who simply enjoys a good read.