Ebook: The eye: an insider's memoir of masterpieces, money, and the magnetism of art

The Miraculous Bronzino -- How I Became an Eye -- The History of Eyes -- Our Holy Trinity: Berenson, Longhi and Zeri -- Restored Paintings and Outright Forgeries -- Speaking of Painting -- Black Chalk, Red Chalk, Quill, Highlights -- Enigmas and Investigations -- An Angel and Other Discoveries -- Risky Business -- The Lives of an Eye -- I Admit I Was Wrong.;It's a rare and secret profession, comprising a few dozen people around the world equipped with a mysterious mixture of knowledge and innate sensibility. Summoned to Swiss bank vaults, Fifth Avenue apartments, and Tokyo storerooms, they are entrusted by collectors, dealers, and museums to decide if a coveted picture is real or fake and to determine if it was painted by Leonardo da Vinci or Raphael. The Eye lifts the veil on the rarified world of connoisseurs devoted to the authentication and discovery of Old Master artworks. This is an art adventure story and a memoir all in one, written by a leading expert on the Renaissance whose métier is a high-stakes detective game involving massive amounts of money and frenetic activity in the service of the art market and scholarship alike. It's also an eloquent argument for the enduring value of visual creativity, told with passion, brilliance, and surprising candor. -- From the dust jacket.