Provenance
How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Marty Peterson
About this listen
Here is a tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries - many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today. Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a great con man and unforgettable villain, John Drewe, and his sometimes unwitting accomplices. Chief among those was the struggling artist John Myatt, a vulnerable single father who was manipulated by Drewe into becoming a prolific art forger. Once Myatt had painted the pieces, the real fraud began. Drewe managed to infiltrate the archives of the upper echelons of the British art world in order to fake the provenance of Myatt's forged pieces, hoping to irrevocably legitimize the fakes while effectively rewriting art history.
The story stretches from London to Paris to New York, from tony Manhattan art galleries to the esteemed Giacometti and Dubuffet associations, to the archives at the Tate Gallery. This enormous swindle resulted in the introduction of at least 200 forged paintings, some of them breathtakingly good and most of them selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of these fakes are still out in the world, considered genuine and hung prominently in private houses, large galleries, and prestigious museums. And the sacred archives, undermined by John Drewe, remain tainted to this day.
Provenance reads like a well-plotted thriller, filled with unforgettable characters and told at a breakneck pace. But this is most certainly not fiction; Provenance is the meticulously researched and captivating account of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery.
©2009 Laney Salisbury (P)2009 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Priceless
- How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures
- By: Robert K. Wittman, John Shiffman
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a 20-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this compelling memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities.
-
-
Think carefully before buying
- By John S. on 01-15-11
By: Robert K. Wittman, and others
-
The Art of the Con
- The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World
- By: Anthony M. Amore
- Narrated by: Michael Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication and forgery, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate. Anthony M. Amore's The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons.
-
-
Monotone performance
- By Texantothebone2500 on 12-17-19
By: Anthony M. Amore
-
The Rescue Artist
- A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the predawn hours of a gloomy February day in 1994, two thieves entered the National Gallery in Oslo and made off with one of the world's most famous paintings, Edvard Munch's Scream. It was a brazen crime committed while the whole world was watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Baffled and humiliated, the Norwegian police turned to the one man they believed could help: a half English, half American undercover cop named Charley Hill, the world's greatest art detective.
-
-
Fascinating, educational, and a great police story
- By MAGJAG on 06-29-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
The Art Detective
- Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures
- By: Philip Mould
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What separates a masterpiece from a piece of junk? Thanks to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow and its American spin-off, everyone is searching garage sales and hunting online for hidden gems, wondering whether their attics contain trash or treasures. In The Art Detective, Philip Mould, one of the world's foremost authorities on British portraiture and an irreverent and delightful expert for the Roadshow, serves up his secrets and his best stories.
-
-
The Art Detective was Interesting
- By L. O. Pardue on 10-04-11
By: Philip Mould
-
The Art Forger
- By: B. A. Shapiro
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting - a Degas masterpiece stolen from the Gardner Museum - in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when that very same long-missing Degas painting is delivered to Claire's studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery. Her desperate search for the truth leads Claire into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late 19th century may be the only evidence that can now save her life.
-
-
The Art Forger
- By Cynthia on 01-02-13
By: B. A. Shapiro
-
The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
-
Priceless
- How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures
- By: Robert K. Wittman, John Shiffman
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a 20-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this compelling memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities.
-
-
Think carefully before buying
- By John S. on 01-15-11
By: Robert K. Wittman, and others
-
The Art of the Con
- The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World
- By: Anthony M. Amore
- Narrated by: Michael Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication and forgery, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate. Anthony M. Amore's The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons.
-
-
Monotone performance
- By Texantothebone2500 on 12-17-19
By: Anthony M. Amore
-
The Rescue Artist
- A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the predawn hours of a gloomy February day in 1994, two thieves entered the National Gallery in Oslo and made off with one of the world's most famous paintings, Edvard Munch's Scream. It was a brazen crime committed while the whole world was watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Baffled and humiliated, the Norwegian police turned to the one man they believed could help: a half English, half American undercover cop named Charley Hill, the world's greatest art detective.
-
-
Fascinating, educational, and a great police story
- By MAGJAG on 06-29-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
The Art Detective
- Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures
- By: Philip Mould
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What separates a masterpiece from a piece of junk? Thanks to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow and its American spin-off, everyone is searching garage sales and hunting online for hidden gems, wondering whether their attics contain trash or treasures. In The Art Detective, Philip Mould, one of the world's foremost authorities on British portraiture and an irreverent and delightful expert for the Roadshow, serves up his secrets and his best stories.
-
-
The Art Detective was Interesting
- By L. O. Pardue on 10-04-11
By: Philip Mould
-
The Art Forger
- By: B. A. Shapiro
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
- Length: 10 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Making a living reproducing famous artworks for a popular online retailer and desperate to improve her situation, Claire is lured into a Faustian bargain with Aiden Markel, a powerful gallery owner. She agrees to forge a painting - a Degas masterpiece stolen from the Gardner Museum - in exchange for a one-woman show in his renowned gallery. But when that very same long-missing Degas painting is delivered to Claire's studio, she begins to suspect that it may itself be a forgery. Her desperate search for the truth leads Claire into a labyrinth of deceit where secrets hidden since the late 19th century may be the only evidence that can now save her life.
-
-
The Art Forger
- By Cynthia on 01-02-13
By: B. A. Shapiro
-
The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
-
The Last Leonardo
- The Secret Lives of the World's Most Expensive Painting
- By: Ben Lewis
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as savior of the world is “the rarest thing on the planet.” Its $450 million sale price also makes it the world’s most expensive painting. For two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early 16th century.
-
-
Definitely makes you think.
- By John Galt on 04-20-21
By: Ben Lewis
-
American Kingpin
- The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
- By: Nick Bilton
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2011, a 26-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine website hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything - drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons - free of the government's watchful eye. It wasn't long before the media got wind of the new website where anyone - not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers - could buy and sell contraband detection-free.
-
-
An honest portrait of DPR
- By Victor on 05-18-17
By: Nick Bilton
-
Boom
- Mad Money, Mega Dealers, and the Rise of Contemporary Art
- By: Michael Shnayerson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The contemporary art market is an international juggernaut, throwing off multimillion-dollar deals as wealthy buyers move from fair to fair, auction to auction, party to glittering party. But none of it would happen without the dealers - the tastemakers who back emerging artists and steer them to success, often to see them picked off by a rival. Dealers operate within a private world of handshake agreements, negotiating for the highest commissions. Michael Shnayerson, a longtime contributing editor to Vanity Fair, writes the first-ever definitive history of their activities.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Clifford I. Davis on 07-04-19
-
Con/Artist
- The Life and Crimes of the World's Greatest Art Forger
- By: Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone, Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro’s “Rembrandts,” “Caravaggios,” “Miros,” and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe.
-
-
Incredibly interesting!
- By Carole Wooten on 12-07-22
By: Tony Tetro, and others
-
The Art Thief
- A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
- By: Michael Finkel
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Michael Finkel
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For centuries, works of art have been stolen in countless ways from all over the world, but no one has been quite as successful at it as the master thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
-
-
A book that's steals your attention!
- By samy on 07-23-23
By: Michael Finkel
-
Ninth Street Women
- Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art
- By: Mary Gabriel
- Narrated by: Lisa Stathoplos
- Length: 40 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Five women revolutionize the modern art world in postwar America in this "gratifying, generous, and lush" true story from a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist (Jennifer Szalai, New York Times). Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street Women is the impassioned, wild, sometimes tragic, always exhilarating chronicle of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of 20th-century abstract painting - not as muses but as artists.
-
-
Painful pronunciation issues!
- By Curious Artist Librarian on 05-20-19
By: Mary Gabriel
-
What Are You Looking At?
- The Surprising, Shocking, and Sometimes Strange Story of 150 Years of Modern Art
- By: Will Gompertz
- Narrated by: Matthew Waterson
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is modern art? Who started it? Why do we either love it or loathe it? And why is it such big money? Join BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz on a dazzling tour that will change the way you look at modern art forever. From Monet's water lilies to Van Gogh's sunflowers, from Warhol's soup cans to Hirst's pickled shark, hear the stories behind the masterpieces, meet the artists as they really were, and discover the real point of modern art.
-
-
A simply wonderful book with a serious flaw
- By 11104 on 05-02-21
By: Will Gompertz
-
ArtCurious
- Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History
- By: Jennifer Dasal
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dasal
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed - or even murdered.
-
-
Couldn’t take it
- By Amira on 03-05-22
By: Jennifer Dasal
-
Steve Jobs
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Dylan Baker
- Length: 25 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on more than 40 interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
-
-
Good Biography, Fine narrator
- By Chris on 10-27-11
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Lost Painting
- The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
- By: Jonathan Harr
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.
-
-
an incredible and complex story unfolds seamlessly
- By Jeremiah on 10-31-05
By: Jonathan Harr
-
Entangled
- By: Graham Hancock
- Narrated by: Khristine Hvam, Graham Hancock - introduction
- Length: 17 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Graham Hancock has spent decades researching and writing some of the most ambitious and successful nonfiction investigations into ancient civilizations and wisdom. Entangled uses all of Hancock's skills and knowledge to propel a fantasy adventure like nothing else preceding it. This is a time-slip novel, alternating between present-day California, Brazil, and prehistoric Spain, with two teenage female protagonists who must come together to avert an incredibly bloodthirsty takeover of the human race.
-
-
Great Story
- By Morna L. on 03-27-12
By: Graham Hancock
-
Angels and Demons
- By: Dan Brown
- Narrated by: Richard Poe
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
World-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a cryptic symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. What he discovers is unimaginable: a deadly vendetta against the Catholic Church by a centuries-old underground organization, the Illuminati. Desperate to save the Vatican from a powerful time bomb, Langdon joins forces in Rome with the beautiful and mysterious scientist Vittoria Vetra.
-
-
A must for fans of The Da Vinci Code
- By Geoffrey on 04-14-04
By: Dan Brown
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
The Map Thief
- The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps
- By: Michael Blanding
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers - both as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who collect them, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and sometimes disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects.
Once considered a respectable antiquarian map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley spent years doubling as a map thief - until he was finally arrested slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library.
-
-
A Study of the Strangeness of People
- By Carole T. on 12-10-14
By: Michael Blanding
-
The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
-
The Lost Painting
- The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
- By: Jonathan Harr
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.
-
-
an incredible and complex story unfolds seamlessly
- By Jeremiah on 10-31-05
By: Jonathan Harr
-
The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
-
-
Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
-
The Lost Book of Moses
- The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible
- By: Chanan Tigay
- Narrated by: Chanan Tigay
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira - archaeological treasure hunter and denizen of Jerusalem's bustling marketplace - arrived unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the world's oldest Bible scroll. When news of the discovery leaked to the excited English press, Shapira became a household name. But before the British Museum could acquire them, Shapira's nemesis, French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced his find as a fraud.
-
-
Fascinating!
- By Deborah on 07-27-17
By: Chanan Tigay
-
The Orpheus Clock
- The Search for My Family's Art Treasures Stolen by the Nazis
- By: Simon Goodman
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gutmanns, as they were known, rose from a small Bohemian hamlet to become one of Germany's most powerful banking families. They also amassed a magnificent, world-class art collection that included works by Degas, Renoir, Botticelli, Guardi, and many, many others. But the Nazi regime snatched from them everything they had worked to build: their remarkable art, their immense wealth, their prominent social standing, and their very lives.
-
-
A Masterpiece of 21st Century History
- By Daniel Grünfeld on 09-18-19
By: Simon Goodman
-
The Map Thief
- The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps
- By: Michael Blanding
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers - both as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who collect them, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and sometimes disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects.
Once considered a respectable antiquarian map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley spent years doubling as a map thief - until he was finally arrested slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library.
-
-
A Study of the Strangeness of People
- By Carole T. on 12-10-14
By: Michael Blanding
-
The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
-
The Lost Painting
- The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
- By: Jonathan Harr
- Narrated by: Campbell Scott
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea, and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.
-
-
an incredible and complex story unfolds seamlessly
- By Jeremiah on 10-31-05
By: Jonathan Harr
-
The City of Falling Angels
- By: John Berendt
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil returns to give us an intimate look at the "magic, mystery, and decadence" of the city of Venice and its inhabitants.
-
-
Do Yourself a Favor and Skip This Book!
- By AUDIBLE on 10-08-05
By: John Berendt
-
The Lost Book of Moses
- The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible
- By: Chanan Tigay
- Narrated by: Chanan Tigay
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira - archaeological treasure hunter and denizen of Jerusalem's bustling marketplace - arrived unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the world's oldest Bible scroll. When news of the discovery leaked to the excited English press, Shapira became a household name. But before the British Museum could acquire them, Shapira's nemesis, French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced his find as a fraud.
-
-
Fascinating!
- By Deborah on 07-27-17
By: Chanan Tigay
-
The Orpheus Clock
- The Search for My Family's Art Treasures Stolen by the Nazis
- By: Simon Goodman
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Gutmanns, as they were known, rose from a small Bohemian hamlet to become one of Germany's most powerful banking families. They also amassed a magnificent, world-class art collection that included works by Degas, Renoir, Botticelli, Guardi, and many, many others. But the Nazi regime snatched from them everything they had worked to build: their remarkable art, their immense wealth, their prominent social standing, and their very lives.
-
-
A Masterpiece of 21st Century History
- By Daniel Grünfeld on 09-18-19
By: Simon Goodman
-
The Bettencourt Affair
- The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal That Rocked Paris
- By: Tom Sancton
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Heiress to the nearly 40-billion-dollar L’Oréal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt was the world’s richest woman and the 14th wealthiest person. But her gilded life took a dark yet fascinating turn in the past decade. At 94, she was embroiled in what has been called the Bettencourt Affair, a scandal that dominated the headlines in France. Why? It’s a tangled web of hidden secrets, divided loyalties, frayed relationships, and fractured families, set in the most romantic city - and involving the most glamorous industry - in the world.
-
-
A Juicy Chronicle
- By Jean on 10-24-17
By: Tom Sancton
-
The Great Pearl Heist
- London's Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard's Hunt for the World's Most Valuable Necklace
- By: Molly Caldwell Crosby
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1913, under the cover of London’s perpetual smoggy dusk, two brilliant minds are pitted against each other - a celebrated gentleman thief and a talented Scotland Yard detective - in the greatest jewel heist of the new century. An exquisite strand of pale pink pearls, worth more than the Hope Diamond, has been bought by a Hatton Garden broker. Word of the “Mona Lisa of Pearls” spreads around the world, captivating jewelers as well as thieves.
-
-
Entertaining Read
- By Rodney on 12-18-12
-
Sweet, Sweet Revenge Ltd.
- A Novel
- By: Jonas Jonasson
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The beloved author of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared returns with an enchanting adventure that skewers the greed and hypocrisy that dominates our time and holds lessons about what’s truly important in life.
-
-
Entertaining
- By Alek Grant on 07-17-24
By: Jonas Jonasson
-
Dreamers and Deceivers
- True and Untold Stories of the Heroes and Villains Who Made America
- By: Glenn Beck
- Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The new nonfiction from number-one best-selling author and popular radio and television host Glenn Beck.
-
-
Astounding History stories gather life
- By Gil on 11-13-14
By: Glenn Beck
-
The Mark Inside
- A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con
- By: Amy Reading
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1919, Texas rancher J. Frank Norfleet lost everything he had in a stock market swindle. He did what many other marks did - he went home, borrowed more money from his family, and returned for another round of swindling. Only after he lost that second fortune did he reclaim control of his story. Instead of crawling back home in shame, he vowed to hunt down the five men who had conned him. Through Norfleet's ingenious reverse-swindle, Amy Reading reveals the mechanics behind the scenes of the big con.
-
-
Confusing Premise Makes for A Tough Read
- By Grumpy S. Monkey on 06-19-12
By: Amy Reading
-
The Aleppo Codex
- A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible
- By: Matti Friedman
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A true-life thriller about the journey of one of the world's most precious manuscripts - the 10th-century annotated Hebrew Bible known as the Aleppo Codex - from its hiding place in an ancient Syrian synagogue to the newly founded Israel. Using his research, including documents that have been secret for 50 years and interviews with key players, AP correspondent Friedman tells a story of political upheaval, international intrigue, charged courtroom battles, obsession, and subterfuge.
-
-
don't quess at pronunciation of foreign words
- By dlb on 05-28-12
By: Matti Friedman
-
If the Devil Had a Wife
- By: Frank Mills
- Narrated by: A.T. Chandler
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once upon a time. Happily ever after. Such are the classic promises of fairy tales. Yet in Texas we find a twist to the familiar storyline. In If the Devil Had a Wife, there is still the battle of Good vs. Evil, a beautiful maiden, a wealthy suitor, a kingdom of riches and the wicked witch, but any similarity with Cinderella and Snow White ends there. With the help of her life partner and an attorney (always necessary in these modern times), Nelda Stark executes a devious plan that elevates fraud and theft to a new high.
-
-
What a Tale!!
- By Texas Native on 09-28-16
By: Frank Mills
-
Picasso's War
- How Modern Art Came to America
- By: Hugh Eakin
- Narrated by: Mack Sanderson
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In January 1939, Pablo Picasso was renowned in Europe but disdained by many in the United States. One year later, Americans across the country were clamoring to see his art. How did the controversial leader of the Paris avant-garde break through to the heart of American culture? The answer begins a generation earlier, when a renegade Irish American lawyer named John Quinn set out to build the greatest collection of Picassos in existence. His dream of a museum to house them died with him, until it was rediscovered by Alfred H. Barr, Jr.
-
-
Better Books on Picasso Available
- By john burke on 08-17-22
By: Hugh Eakin
-
The Unbreakable Miss Lovely
- How the Church of Scientology Tried to Destroy Paulette Cooper
- By: Tony Ortega
- Narrated by: Tony Ortega
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1971 Paulette Cooper wrote a scathing book about the Church of Scientology. Desperate to shut the book down, Scientology unleashed on her one of the most sinister personal campaigns the free world has ever known. The onslaught, which lasted years, ruined her life and drove her to the brink of suicide. The story of Paulette's terrifying ordeal is told in full for the first time in The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.
-
-
A "CHURCH" THAT IS DESTRUCTIVE. INSIDE SCIENTOLOGY
- By Count B on 09-29-16
By: Tony Ortega
-
The Billionaire's Vinegar
- The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
- By: Benjamin Wallace
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. In 1985, at a heated auction by Christie’s of London, a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux - one of a cache of bottles unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson - went for $156,000 to a member of the Forbes family. The discoverer of the bottle was pop-band manager turned wine collector Hardy Rodenstock, who had a knack for finding extremely old and exquisite wines. But rumors about the bottle soon arose.
-
-
Not just for enophiles
- By Julie W. Capell on 06-03-09
By: Benjamin Wallace
-
People Who Eat Darkness
- The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo - and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up
- By: Richard Lloyd Parry
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucie Blackman - tall, blond, 21 years old - stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000 and disappeared. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave. The seven months in between had seen a massive search for the missing girl involving Japanese policemen, British private detectives, and Lucie’s desperate but bitterly divided parents. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult or snatched by human traffickers? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? And what did her work as a hostess in the notorious Roppongi district of Tokyo really involve?
-
-
This is the audiobook against I rate all others.
- By El_Ron on 03-08-13
-
Bad Paper
- Chasing Debt from Wall Street to the Underworld
- By: Jake Halpern
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jake Halpern introduces us to a former banking executive and a former armed robber who become partners and go in quest of "paper" - the uncollected debts that are sold off by banks for pennies on the dollar. As Halpern shows, the world of consumer debt collection is a wild and unregulated shadow land, where operators may misrepresent a debtor's situation, make illegal threats, and even lay claim to debts that are not theirs to collect in the first place.
-
-
An Examination of Bad Debts; its Buyers & Sellers
- By Darwin8u on 08-22-16
By: Jake Halpern
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Priceless
- How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures
- By: Robert K. Wittman, John Shiffman
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a 20-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this compelling memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities.
-
-
Think carefully before buying
- By John S. on 01-15-11
By: Robert K. Wittman, and others
-
The Art of the Con
- The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World
- By: Anthony M. Amore
- Narrated by: Michael Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication and forgery, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate. Anthony M. Amore's The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons.
-
-
Monotone performance
- By Texantothebone2500 on 12-17-19
By: Anthony M. Amore
-
The Forger’s Spell
- A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. As Edward Dolnick reveals, his true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life.
-
-
Interesting story!
- By M. Price on 09-20-23
By: Edward Dolnick
-
The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
-
The Art Detective
- Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures
- By: Philip Mould
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What separates a masterpiece from a piece of junk? Thanks to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow and its American spin-off, everyone is searching garage sales and hunting online for hidden gems, wondering whether their attics contain trash or treasures. In The Art Detective, Philip Mould, one of the world's foremost authorities on British portraiture and an irreverent and delightful expert for the Roadshow, serves up his secrets and his best stories.
-
-
The Art Detective was Interesting
- By L. O. Pardue on 10-04-11
By: Philip Mould
-
Con/Artist
- The Life and Crimes of the World's Greatest Art Forger
- By: Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone, Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro’s “Rembrandts,” “Caravaggios,” “Miros,” and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe.
-
-
Incredibly interesting!
- By Carole Wooten on 12-07-22
By: Tony Tetro, and others
-
Priceless
- How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures
- By: Robert K. Wittman, John Shiffman
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rising from humble roots as the son of an antique dealer, Wittman built a 20-year career that was nothing short of extraordinary. He went undercover, usually unarmed, to catch art thieves, scammers, and black market traders in Paris and Philadelphia, Rio and Santa Fe, Miami and Madrid. In this compelling memoir, Wittman fascinates with the stories behind his recoveries of priceless art and antiquities.
-
-
Think carefully before buying
- By John S. on 01-15-11
By: Robert K. Wittman, and others
-
The Art of the Con
- The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World
- By: Anthony M. Amore
- Narrated by: Michael Johnson
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Art scams are today so numerous that the specter of a lawsuit arising from a mistaken attribution has scared a number of experts away from the business of authentication and forgery, and with good reason. Art scams are increasingly convincing and involve incredible sums of money. The cons perpetrated by unscrupulous art dealers and their accomplices are proportionately elaborate. Anthony M. Amore's The Art of the Con tells the stories of some of history's most notorious yet untold cons.
-
-
Monotone performance
- By Texantothebone2500 on 12-17-19
By: Anthony M. Amore
-
The Forger’s Spell
- A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. As Edward Dolnick reveals, his true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life.
-
-
Interesting story!
- By M. Price on 09-20-23
By: Edward Dolnick
-
The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
-
-
Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
-
The Art Detective
- Fakes, Frauds, and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures
- By: Philip Mould
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What separates a masterpiece from a piece of junk? Thanks to the BBC's Antiques Roadshow and its American spin-off, everyone is searching garage sales and hunting online for hidden gems, wondering whether their attics contain trash or treasures. In The Art Detective, Philip Mould, one of the world's foremost authorities on British portraiture and an irreverent and delightful expert for the Roadshow, serves up his secrets and his best stories.
-
-
The Art Detective was Interesting
- By L. O. Pardue on 10-04-11
By: Philip Mould
-
Con/Artist
- The Life and Crimes of the World's Greatest Art Forger
- By: Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone, Tony Tetro, Giampiero Ambrosi
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro’s “Rembrandts,” “Caravaggios,” “Miros,” and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe.
-
-
Incredibly interesting!
- By Carole Wooten on 12-07-22
By: Tony Tetro, and others
-
The Rescue Artist
- A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece
- By: Edward Dolnick
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the predawn hours of a gloomy February day in 1994, two thieves entered the National Gallery in Oslo and made off with one of the world's most famous paintings, Edvard Munch's Scream. It was a brazen crime committed while the whole world was watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Baffled and humiliated, the Norwegian police turned to the one man they believed could help: a half English, half American undercover cop named Charley Hill, the world's greatest art detective.
-
-
Fascinating, educational, and a great police story
- By MAGJAG on 06-29-19
By: Edward Dolnick
-
Caveat Emptor: The Secret Life of an American Art Forger
- By: Ken Perenyi
- Narrated by: Dan Butler
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ten years ago, an FBI investigation was about to expose a scandal in the art world that would have been front-page news in New York and London. After a trail of fake paintings of astonishing quality led federal agents to art dealers, experts, and major auction houses, the investigation inexplicably ended, despite an abundance of evidence. The case was closed and the FBI file was marked “exempt from public disclosure”. Now that the statute of limitations on these crimes has expired and the case appears hermetically sealed shut by the FBI, this audiobook, Caveat Emptor, is that artist, Ken Perenyi’s, confession.
-
-
Forgery to Story Telling
- By Tina M. on 08-16-12
By: Ken Perenyi
-
Hitler's Art Thief
- Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the Looting of Europe's Treasures
- By: Susan Ronald
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Susan Ronald reveals in this stranger-than-fiction-tale how Hildebrand Gurlitt succeeded in looting in the name of the Third Reich, duping the Monuments Men and the Nazis alike. As an "official dealer" for Hitler and Goebbels, Hildebrand Gurlitt became one of the Third Reich's most prolific art looters. Yet he stole from Hitler, too, allegedly to save modern art. Hitler's Art Thief is the untold story of Hildebrand Gurlitt, who stole more than art - he stole lives, too.
-
-
awesome
- By JENNIFER H. on 02-25-21
By: Susan Ronald
-
Get the Picture
- A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See
- By: Bianca Bosker
- Narrated by: Bianca Bosker
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An award-winning journalist obsessed with obsession, Bianca Bosker’s existence was upended when she wandered into the art world—and couldn’t look away. Intrigued by artists who hyperventilate around their favorite colors and art fiends who max out credit cards to show hunks of metal they think can change the world, Bosker grew fixated on understanding why art matters and how she—or any of us—could engage with it more deeply.
-
-
Rough Start - Great Conclusion
- By Anthony on 02-10-24
By: Bianca Bosker
-
All the Beauty in the World
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
- By: Patrick Bringley
- Narrated by: Patrick Bringley
- Length: 6 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamourous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought that he’d be one of them.
-
-
Gallery 771
- By Jonathan Hurst on 06-10-23
By: Patrick Bringley
-
Chasing Beauty
- The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner
- By: Natalie Dykstra
- Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Isabella Stewart Gardner’s museum, with its plain exterior enfolding an astonishing four-story Italian palazzo, rose from Boston’s Fens at the turn of the twentieth century. Its treasures encompassed not only masterwork paintings but tapestries, rare books, prints, porcelains, and fine furniture.
-
-
A Very Strong Woman
- By Kathleen Mccord on 06-13-24
By: Natalie Dykstra
What listeners say about Provenance
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Simone
- 05-30-13
It reads like fiction – GREAT!
I LOVED IT! If only more non-fiction books were written in this style; it reads like a story. Brilliant. It’s not dry and textbooky like most non-fiction books I have read (and that’s a lot, just check my library).
Most of the time non-fiction tends to be pretty dull, emotionless and little more than a long boring litany of: Fact. Fact. Date. Date. Fact. Date. Fact. You read it because you are interested in the information, but the presentation dulls your curiosity.
That’s not the case for this book, thanks to the story-style-set-up, it held my attention the entire way though... I never once got bored, or felt lost, or was mired down in a well of names and dates. I was captivated from the beginning to the end.
Kudos!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AJC
- 02-15-22
The more money the easier to fool
Provenance is about the Drew/Myatt art forgery scam. If this Audible book reveals anything it's that money doesn't equal smarts. And, if you want to believe something is real, it is real. Plus when palming off fakes on the upper crusties it pays to know one's way around the art of BS. That and lax gallery and museum security and verification. I'm closing I found the performance to be monotone and mechanical. While clear, to me it sounded like computer generated speech. It had an AI feel to it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Janelle
- 05-24-13
Fantastic Forgers and an Evil Sociopath
What a story.I knew about the events described in the book but truly didn't understand what the motivation for the forger was before. I found the forger a very sympathetic character.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jenn
- 09-27-15
Interesting account of a 20th art caper
All in all this is an extremely interesting story. It's sometimes hard to believe it's a story happening in the 1980s and 1990s and not in the 1800s. To perpetrate a con this elaborate in modern times seems impossible.
My only criticism with the story structure is a total lack of suspense. While the overall outcome may be known/obvious, even the minor subplots are made all too apparent long before the author dives deeply into their details. That being said, it's only a minor criticism and the story is worth hearing (even for an art neophyte, like myself).
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Erika
- 07-09-16
fascinating listen
Not in love with the narration, but the story is very fascinating. I learned a lot and also was kept on the edge of my seat!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Steven and Marina Smith
- 05-25-21
art thieving is like art imitating life
who knew that this was just one more fanciful tale of art thieving gone mad. at least someone made good on their life, he who painted the art. we got some feel good in the end for doing the right thing and making right the wrongs that he did
I enjoyed this book immensely
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Polly Fox
- 07-06-22
Interesting book, not a great audio production
A very compelling story about fraud, sociopathy, and the innocents affected. However the audio production was not great. The reader sounded like the voice in an automated phone system - I kept waiting for her to say ‘press 9 to hear these options again.’
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mark Greenberg,best-selling author
- 10-04-22
Narrator Miscast
The narration was totally incongruous to this story of crime, deception and human failures. Her voice and lack of appropriate inflection are more suited to stories for children.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Enrique
- 01-20-13
Good listening
Would you consider the audio edition of Provenance to be better than the print version?
Not really, Marty speaks too fast
Who was your favorite character and why?
John Myatt, he is very naive
What about Marty Peterson’s performance did you like?
I did not like her performance, maybe she needs to slow down a bit
If you could give Provenance a new subtitle, what would it be?
How an art forger deceived the high end art galleries
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rachel
- 06-15-13
meh, I've heard it before
It seems like there are a whole slew of books out there about art forgers. This one was fine. I wouldn't recommend it, others are better.
I felt like the story was similar to ones I've heard before and then suddenly the book ended. I guess in retrospect the story was complete, but it felt abrupt and incomplete.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!