Portrait of an Unknown Woman

This is the first book I've read in the Gabriel Allon series. I shouldn't have waited so long. I'm happy to say, although it is a series, and there were some references to past associations, I had no problem diving into the book, and I enjoyed thoroughly. I can't speak to the others in the series, but this book was full of adventure, jet-setting off at the drop of a hat, wiring millions, like it is something one does all the time, kind of James Bond like. Great fun, and I imagine the other books are similar.
I loved the story line. Retired Master Spy and art restorer is coaxed back into action when a forgery appears. Soon it's obvious that there is an organized ring disseminating forgeries. Gabriel spins a web to lure the forgers to show more approach him. Big Money and reputations are involved.
Quick read. show less

Gabriel Allon wanted to be an artist and art restorer but fate intervened. Instead, his career was working as a spy for Mossad and involved finding art forgeries and killing enemies of the state.
He was finally able to retire and moved to Venice with his wife, Chiara, and young children. Chiara opened a restoration company and he worked for her. He was enjoying his new life when an old friend, art dealer Julian Isherwood, called him from London about some unusual activities surrounding the $6.5 million sale of an old master painting, “Portrait of an Unknown Woman.”
Allon uses his ability to forge paintings as a way to break up their illegal spread.
While there are references to previous experiences from his days with Mossad and show more some murders and hacking in PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, most of the action revolves focuses on the spread of forged art masterpieces, sold at excessively high prices to people who keep them in their personal collections, thereby making it difficult to discover.
The Author’s Notes provides information about what is genuine, based on fact, or purely imagination. It also lists books for additional information about the art forgery business.
Well-written with intricate plot twists, PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, provides a lot of information about how and why the racket works. show less

Portrait of an Unknown Woman is Dan Silva's 25th novel and his 22nd Gabrial Allon novel. He has also written one standalone novel and two books in his Michael Osborne series. At 448 pages, Portrait it is just 2 pages short of qualifying as a chunkster for the Chunkster Challenge. The book was published on July 19, 2022.

The publisher's summary:

Legendary spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon has at long last severed ties with Israeli intelligence and settled quietly in Venice, the only place where he has ever truly known peace. His beautiful wife, Chiara, has taken over the day-to-day management of the Tiepolo Restoration Company, and their two young children are discreetly enrolled in a neighborhood scuola elementare. For his part, Gabriel show more spends his days wandering the streets and canals of the watery city, bidding farewell to the demons of his tragic, violent past.

But when the eccentric London art dealer Julian Isherwood asks Gabriel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rediscovery and lucrative sale of a centuries-old painting, he is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse where nothing is as it seems.

Gabriel soon discovers that the work in question, a portrait of an unidentified woman attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck, is almost certainly a fiendishly clever fake. To find the mysterious figure who painted it—and uncover a multibillion-dollar fraud at the pinnacle of the art world—Gabriel conceives one of the most elaborate deceptions of his career. If it is to succeed, he must become the very mirror image of the man he seeks: the greatest art forger the world has ever known.

Stylish, sophisticated, and ingeniously plotted, Portrait of an Unknown Woman is a wildly entertaining journey through the dark side of the art world—a place where unscrupulous dealers routinely deceive their customers and deep-pocketed investors treat great paintings as though they were just another asset class to be bought and sold at a profit. From its elegant opening to the shocking twists of its climax, the novel is a tour de force of storytelling and one of the finest pieces of heist fiction ever written. And it is still more proof that, when it comes to international intrigue and suspense, Daniel Silva has no equal.

I LOVED this novel! Daniel Silva has never written a book that wasn't fantastic and Portrait follows his successful ride. The plot is based upon the true stories of art forgers John Myatt, John Drewe, Guy Ribes and Wolfgang Beltracchi. John Myatt painted more than 250 forgeries that John Drewe sold through well established London art galleries. Ribes was able to paint approximately 1,000 Chagall and Picasso forgeries that his network sold. His German counterpart, Beltracchi, sold forgeries through all of the prominent auction houses. All four of these men have a matching character in Portrait. Most of their forgeries are still in circulation today.

The novel was spell-binding. I read this chunky book in one sitting late one evening. I am apprehensive, though, about the retirement of Allon from the spy business. His work for the Office has catapulted the series into fame and I don't see how the series can continue much longer if he no longer works as a spy. In this installment of the series, Allon is resting after his retirement but will soon begin working as an art restorer for his wife Chiara who owns the Tiepelo Restoration Company. With Allon being sixtysomething years old and retired, where does this series go? show less

Daniel Silva novels can all be reduced to a simple phrase, good guy fights bad guys. The good guy is always Gabriel Allon who is often aided by a set of also good guys. These depend on who the bad guys are. His family is always there, usually his new one. Sometimes he's an art restorer, sometimes an assassin, sometimes an intelligence officer. Usually there are trips down memory lane reminding us of some previous book and escapade, all glorious of course. There are bad guys but sometimes they are terrorists, sometimes they are communists, always there are killers, always they are criminals. Police and bureaucrats serve as both friends and foes. And then there's usually some whizz bang, often, illegal, technology. There's always Israel show more but often it's Italy, England, France, Germany, Russia, Turkey, and of course, good ole USA. And then there's beautiful places like Paris, London, Rome, The Vatican, Venice, Jerusalem, Moscow, Geneva, New York City, Miami, etc. Silva never mentions his tax deductible trips to beautiful places with expensive hotels and restaurants. There must be plenty. Did I mention airplanes? I almost forgot, there's usually a damsel in distress, often young and beautiful. Sometimes he's going to recruit them as an asset for the future, stay tuned.

The bad guys this time are art forgers and the financial world that has worked with art dealers and museums to turn art into an asset class and commodity. In previous novels we've learned about forgery and secrecy. n this one there's lots of forgery and secrecy but the new element is the extensive nature of the financial issues that spring from the secrecy of the art world, Besides uncovering the forger Gabriel takes on the problem of gathering evidence of how the financial world has willingly participated in the fraud. There are lots of ways to make more and more money as the art world has an insatiable appetite to possess what all the others lust for. It's the opposite of a virtual cycle. Bad leads to worse. And avoiding embarrassment gets in the way of doing the right thing. People would rather avoid admitting a problem when they see no upside in going public.

Yes there is use of intelligence connections. Technology proves an easy way to deal with what otherwise would be a difficult plot point. Amazing how Gabriel gets to see or hear something that normal people would never be able too. Suspension of disbelief is required at several points.

Best part of this and all these novels, they're a quick read. Enjoy. show less

Formulaic with a great many of the usual characters and locations is not necessarily a bad thing. But, given everything that has happened in the world since the last book, I had hoped for a more topical story.There is a woman who has done wrong but, like some bad actors in previous books, she may be redeemable if she doesn't get killed first. I was a little surprised that there was no need for Gabriel to call in his usual, now former, colleagues to save the day. Westport, Connecticut, and Long Island are new locations for the series. I guessed half of the mystery easily.

Portrait of an Unknown Woman, Daniel Silva, author; Edoardo Ballerini, narrator
Gabriel Allon has retired and has begun a new career as an art restorer. When his friend Julian believes he may have acquired a forged painting, especially after an attempt is made on his life, he calls Allon to help him find out if his painting is a legitimate recovered piece from the Holocaust, or the very costly and disastrous purchase of a fake.
Although Allon is no longer an investigator, he agrees to help Julian. Soon his life is also in danger, as are those he calls in to help him. The familiar characters from past novels, Sara and her husband Christopher, join him in his effort. Sara is very much involved in the art world and may also have been duped show more into buying and selling fraudulent paintings. This could ruin her business as well as Julian’s.
In the quest for answers, they discover that there is a criminal enterprise engaging in the buying, selling of forgeries and then falsely authenticating them. It is a large network of criminals that are not afraid of engaging in violence. How to pursue the criminals is a problem, not only for their safety, but the revelation of this level of fraud could destroy the art world and the museums that may have been compromised with purchases of fakes.
For most of the book, the non-stop tension and excitement of the usual Allon mystery is missing, which is a disappointment. There is a lot of detail which is distracting. There is only a smattering of action, but there is danger afoot toward the end which captures the reader’s attention. Still, my favorite series has taken a dramatic turn in another, less desirable direction.
The author seems to have decided to use politics as a theme to promote his own progressive bent. His accusations of racism and his concern for global warming are negatively directed toward America. These opinions of his may or may not please all of his readers. Perhaps he should return to the action packed novels of the past and leave the political points of view to others. The narrator enhanced what would otherwise have been a slow read. show less

I haven't read the first 21 instalments of this series, so there was a lot of back story I wasn't privy to, but this was fine as a stand alone. There was quite an extensive cast, but I think I kept on top of the plot. I found this very readable and fun, although the good guys never really seemed to be in much danger.