Travis Simpkins: Gian Lorenzo Bernini

Showing posts with label Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Show all posts

Thursday, June 25, 2015

"The Bernini Bust" by Iain Pears

"The Bernini Bust" by Iain Pears

Harcourt Brace, 1992

Brief Review by Travis Simpkins

The third installation in the Jonathan Argyll & Flavia di Stefano series, The Bernini Bust, once again finds author Iain Pears in top form… expertly combining murder, mystery, art history and museum dealings in a convincing and clever manner.

Accident-prone art dealer Jonathan Argyll finds himself in Los Angeles, brokering the sale of his Titian painting to the ultra-rich Arthur M. Moresby Museum of Fine Arts (think J. Paul Getty Museum). With the arrival of a shady dealer, a mysterious bust of Pope Pius V by Gian Lorenzo Bernini pops up as the museum's newest acquisition. But the museum's owner is murdered, and the Bernini bust disappears. Argyll convinces the LAPD to call in the Italian National Art Theft Squad to cover the art angle, and General Bottando sends researcher Flavia di Stefano to Los Angeles to aid in the investigation (and kindle a romance). Another murder and a near-fatal car crash set the tone for further intrigue as Jonathan and Flavia comb through possibilities and known facts… including the likelihood of a master forger at work, a decades-old smuggling operation, tax evasion and a conspiracy to curtail the museum's expansion plans. Was the missing Bernini bust real or fake to begin with? Great characters permeate the text, including a detective in need of dental work, an overpowering widow, a disinherited black-sheep son, an apathetic director and an overzealous museum security manager.

Arguably one of the best books in the series, The Bernini Bust remains entertaining and suspenseful throughout the concise span of it's 192 pages.

Los Angeles, California: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

The J. Paul Getty Museum: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Los Angeles, California: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

A Bernini Bust: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Bracciano, Italy: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Gian Lorenzo Bernini: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Borghese Museum: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Borghese Museum: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

The Bernini Bust by Iain Pears

Gubbio, Italy: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

Iain Pears: The Bernini Bust. Iain Pears

The Bernini Bust by Iain Pears

Friday, May 22, 2015

Portrait of Iain Pears, Author of "The Bernini Bust". by Travis Simpkins

Iain Pears, 2015. by Travis Simpkins

Portrait Sketch of

Iain Pears

Art Historian, Novelist and Journalist

Author of the
Jonathan Argyll & Flavia di Stefano Series of

Mystery / Detective / Art History Novels

by Travis Simpkins

Iain Pears: Death and Restoration

For more info, please visit:

www.bn.com/iainpears

Iain Pears. by Travis Simpkins. The Bernini Bust

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Angels & Demons (2009): Tom Hanks, Robert Langdon and the Illuminati

Directed by Ron Howard, with a screenplay co-written by Akiva Goldsman, Angels & Demons (2009) was based on the acclaimed novel by Dan Brown… but takes drastic liberties with some elements of storyline set down in the book. The basic tenets of the plot remain intact: Harvard University Professor and Symbologist Robert Langdon is called by the Vatican to lend his expertise in the investigation of the abduction of four Preferiti during Conclave after the death of the Pope. A centuries-old secret society called the Illuminati, seeking retribution in the war of Science and Religion, plans to brand and murder the Cardinals and implode Vatican City by detonating a volatile canister of Antimatter stolen from the CERN laboratories. Robert Langdon must seek out information in the works of Galileo and Bernini in the Vatican Secret Archives, follow a secret path of art markers through the street-maze of Rome and find the antimatter before it is too late. Much of the characterization that worked so well in the book is lost… whole individuals are missing, other interrelations between sets are muddled… particularly in regard to Vittoria, Langdon and the Hassassin. Otherwise, the film offers a great deal of visual splendor and Baroque artwork displayed against the intriguing paradox of modern Rome and Vatican City. From St. Peter's Square to the Pantheon, the story is fast-paced and exciting. Tom Hanks is great as Robert Langdon. Ayelet Zurer is lovely as Vittoria Vetra. Ewan McGregor does a fine job as the Camerlengo. The rest of the cast is good as well, including Stellan Skarsgard, Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Armin Mueller-Stahl.