art forger

B.A. Shapiro writes a fast paced, fun-to-read novel, that doesn't require a lot of heavy lifting by the reader. In fact, there were a couple of minor plot holes, that Shapiro wrote around pretty well. As long as you're not bothered by that, this story moved along at a quick pace.

Shapiro spends some time in The Art Forger talking about both the techniques involved in copying an old painting, as well as the history of the painting, the original painter (Degas) and his patron (Isabella Stewart Gardner.) It was fun to read a story about the history and intrigues (albeit, fictional) of this local museum and its eccentric founder, and to hear about how forgeries may have been done.

Shapiro took some liberties with the history of the museum, its construction, the personal affairs of Gardner herself, the paints included in the collection, and those stolen in the major heist a number of year ago, even the existence of certain relatives and extant descendants. Like I said, it was fun but its harder to suspend disbelieve when the story revolving around such as well-known local personality is stretched this way.