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"Chaz is an artistic genius with a very ill son and an estranged wife whom he still loves but cannot provide for financially. He accepts a commission to 'restore' an antique fresco in a European castle, but when he gets there, he discovers there's very little left to restore and the job is more of a 're-creation'. Some would call it a forgery. His work impresses some millionaire criminal dealers, and, desperate to get his son the medical care he needs and reunite his family, Chaz embarks on a journey that tests not only his artistic genius, but his moral convictions." (From the CD container)
I now suspect that part of the reason I was a little glassy-eyed over Girl With A Pearl Earring was not only my less-than-stellar mood, but also that I had The Forgery of Venus
going at the same time and it just couldn't compete. I was all kinds of engrossed in Chaz's screwed-up, tortured genius existence and his bizarre drug-induced forays into living Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez's life in the early 17th century. I loved the frightening world of multi-million dollar forgery and the nasty tie-in with art stolen from the Jews during WWII. It was all so odd and exciting that poor Griet and Vermeer got left in the dust.This is one of those books that makes me glad I join reading challenges. I totally would have missed out on this one if not for the Art History Challenge!
