First, the green paint used was incorrect. It should have been Hooker's
green, which is a mixture of Prussian blue, a synthetically produced
pigment, and gamboge, which is an organic resin from Asia. The Prussian blue
was present, all right, but the gamboge was not. In its place I found a
mixture of lead chromate, which is a much paler, less brownish pigment, and
several other pigments meant to shift the yellow to the classic mustard
tone. While Remington occasionally used lead chromate, his Hooker's green
was purchased premixed, and the yellow used was gamboges.
So from this you concluded that the painting was a forgery? (the judge
asked).
…I analyzed the lead in the lead white to see if there was much silver in
it. While the cyanide process used today to separate those two elements was
in widespread use by 1900, I thought that, if there were a significant
impurity in the lead, it might indicate that the pigment used was old.
However, it was quite pure.
This discourse continues for pages, at what should be
the peak of the book's intensity. Most courtroom scenes are cliffhangers,
but this one is a sleep-maker.
Some celebrated books,
described or designated as mysteries by the critics-even found on lists of
"best mysteries" compiled by various authorities-ignore all the "rules" of
mystery writing. In Iain Pears' The Raphael Affair, no crime
is committed until page 100 (of a 226-page book), and the reader first
learns that a murder has occurred on page 134. The reader meets the victim
on page 96, and has very little contact with him thereafter. In short, the
reader doesn't know or care about the victim. That's two big rules broken,
and in my view, The Raphael Affair is not a successful mystery. (Page
numbers refer to the Berkley Crime paperback edition, 1988.)
Consider Sarah
Caudwell's Thus Was Adonis Murdered, 1981, about which a reader
commented, "the clues, such as they are, lead nowhere," and, "could the
guilty person at least be a suspect? (The identity of the murderer is
apparently determined by magic.) Thus Was Adonis Murdered is not a
successful mystery. It sometimes appears on "art mystery" lists, although it
has almost nothing to do with art. I sometimes wonder if those who compile
the lists of various kinds of mysteries read the books, or just pull them
out of the air.
Since art historians
tend to show off their expertise, the best art-related mysteries are often
by skilled writers who choose to write about art, not art experts. (Yes, I
know, I'm likely to be guilty of the same error, but I'm working hard to
avoid it.)
Here are a few of my favorite art-related mysteries:
Barnard, Robert,
The Corpse at the Haworth Tandoori, 1998. (I promise, despite the
title, this is an art-related mystery.)
Francis, Dick, In the Frame,
1976.
Francis, Dick, To the Hilt, 1997.
King, Laurie, A
Grave Talent, 1993.
Marsh, Ngaio, Artists in Crime,
1938.
Missing some prominent names, right? Read the reviews on the Internet of
some of the books by authors who've published a long list of art mysteries.
Sometimes, according to the readers, each successive mystery is more tedious
than its predecessor, but publishers keep publishing them. Why? Who knows?
Just to pique your curiosity, here are some readers' comments about the
books of one of the critics' favorites: "Too cumbersome to make sense";
"What could be bad?…most everything"; "A disappointment. Clichéd."; "Hokey";
"Obvious"; "Mediocre"; "Predictable." In every case, I agree. |
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