Philip Mould

6 Paintings (Various)
4 Stories that Actually Involved the Author
1 Painting Visible to the Public
1 Not Very Subtle Plug for Author's TV Show

1 Intrepid Researcher who seems Far More Useful than the Author

The Longer Version
I picked this up because I was fascinated by the title - an ART DETECTIVE searching for lost treasures, spotting fakes and frauds! Yeah, no. Philip Mould is an appraiser for Antiques Roadshow, but first and foremost he is an art dealer - his detecting is in scoping out the show more potential of a work so he can increase the return on his investment by removing later overpaint and restore paintings to their former glory (and a larger price tag). And I have no issues with that, but his examples of "detective" work don't (to me) seem very much to fit the advertised bill.

Most of these stories are about spotting something in an auction catalogue, buying it, restoring it and selling it on to a private collector where I, as the reader, will never be able to examine it in detail to test the author's assertions of its power, beauty and the excellence of their restoration work. Once I had worked out that many of the paintings he talks about are privately owned with often the only available pictures from Mr. Mould's own website, some of the draw dissipated.

The most interesting (and "detective"-like) of the stories is that of a previously unknown Winslow Homer, found by a fisherman next to a garbage dump. There Mould's team (because it does seem like the majority of "detective" work is not done by Mould but by his not-celebrated-enough researcher) deduced through a number of clues the probable previous owners and eventually the subjects of the painting - only for everything to bog down in a still-unresolved ownership dispute.

The concept is interesting and I enjoyed learning about artists, but got frustrated at not being able to view the pieces discussed in more detail. show less

Philip Mould is perhaps best known to UK readers as the art expert on the TV series Fake or Fortune? or as an expert appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. In this book, he tells the surprising stories of six paintings. Readers learn about a Constable discovered in the stash of an eccentric American hoarder, a misattributed Gainsborough, a misattributed Rembrandt portrait, a fake Rockwell, an unusual portrait of Elizabeth I, and a Homer Winslow painting discovered near an Irish dump. I enjoy the show more research process and digging through archives, and I always love reading about the use of archives to investigate the history or provenance of pieces of art. Mould's storytelling ability is worthy of the fascinating subjects at the center of the stories. My only regret is that I listened to the audio version, which for obvious reasons lacked illustrations. I hadn't seen Mr. Mould on television, so it was surprising to discover an online interview and hear his real voice. It didn't sound anything like the audiobook narrator's voice! show less

I'm not an art connoisseur by any stretch, although I do have my tastes and don't mind the occasional museum stroll. I love history and I love a good story. When you combine art, history and terrific storytelling, you come out with a book like "The Art Detectives" by Philip Mould.

The book is structured around 6 specific paintings, and the mysteries that surround/surrounded them. Mould is a fantastic writer. He's clear, concise and sometimes poetic. It's an odd thing to focus on when show more considering a work of non-fiction, but his writing is as expressive and pronounced as anything I've read recently.

Mould avoids the pretension, condescension and patronizing tone that one might expect from a book on high art. And surprisingly, each story is a strong tale in and of itself. At their best, they are very personal, human and touching. At their worst, they're simply good mysteries that Mould unravels layer-by-layer with a blending of personal insight, relevant experiences, historical background and significance. And it all flows beautifully through his solid prose and storytelling abilities.

The strongest tale is of Moulds' meetings with an eccentric hoarder named Earle Newton. The story ranges from their first interactions, to their first and subsequent visits. Newton is more of an "ammasser" than he is a collector, and the real heart of the narrative is Newton's wackiness and the impact of his hoarding on his family.

Family is also at the heart of a story that centers on a well known art deception (and recovery) of a Norman Rockwell painting. After subtle clues circulate around Rockwell's "Break Home Ties", two brothers hunt for the truth of whether their father owned a real Rockwell, and whether or not he knew it was a fake.

Mould does an amazing job of making art history accessible and interesting. All of his stories involve the detective work required to identify what is genuine and authentic from what is a pretender. Mould is both eloquent and passionate in "Mystery of the Missing Gainsborough" and "The Rembrandt in Disguise". Tudor England is the focus of "A Queen in Distress", and colonial Caribbean in "A Winslow Homer Lost and Found" as Mould turns art and history into compelling mysteries.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and would recommend it to readers of history, mysteries and certainly art.

Note: I received "The Art Detectives" as part of the Goodreads First Read program. show less

British art dealer Philip Mould's The Art Detective (Viking, 2010), published in the UK as Sleuth, offers a peek into the high-end art authentication game. In six chapters, each focusing around a particular painting or group of paintings, Mould energetically recounts the facts of the case at hand - of which several in the book feature the author himself as a major character.

With Mould we travel to Arlington, Vermont, where we encounter Earle Newton and his former church building filled to show more bursting with remarkable English and American portraits (the collection is now at the Savannah College of Art and Design). We share his tension as the hour of a West Coast auction with a potential early Gainsborough masterpiece draws near, and enjoy the ride as he seeks to unravel a Norman Rockwell mystery involving a forged painting and hidden walls. We delve deep into art restoration as Mould profiles master technician Martin Bijl, charged with removing centuries' worth of changes to a Rembrandt self-portrait. And we feel the thrill of discovery rapidly shift to the agony of disappointment when a family's fortunate (and potentially very lucrative) find is claimed just prior to its sale at Sotheby's by descendants of former owners.

Mould's got a good sense of narrative pacing, and does an excellent job in each chapter of providing necessary background, setting the stage, and baiting the hook, setting the mystery up for the reader quite nicely (and saving the juiciest little nugget for just the right moment).

I liked the "thrill of the hunt" aspect of this book quite a bit - while my own quarry is books and not (in fact is most decidedly not) the types of paintings which which Mould is concerned, the "rush" is the same, and the mysteries can captivate in similar ways.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2010/07/book-review-art-detective.html show less