Conservation fiction

    **** Moderator's comments: See Conservation DistList Instance:
    7:20 Monday, August 16, 1993, for a related posting by Sally
    having the subject "Museums and mysteries".

    If anyone would like to compile a list of conservation-related
    mysteries (or other works of fiction), I would be pleased to
    make it available in Conservation OnLine

Light reading: a conservation mystery

The conservation community might be interested in knowing about a
new art conservation mystery written by Leslie Carlyle. Leslie, a
CCI conservator, took a break from transforming her PhD thesis into
a more accessible book (The Artist's Assistant: oil painting
instruction manuals and handbooks in Britain...London: Archetype
Publications, 2001) and wrote  a conservation mystery.  It is being
launched in Ottawa this week. Here are the details:

    Masterpiece of Deception
    An Art Mystery
    by Judy Lester
    186 pages
    $14.95 Cdn/$12.95 US
    6'" x 9"
    ISBN: 1-894549-10-4
    Publication date: Sept 2001

    Jerry never expected that a career in art restoration could be
    so filled with danger and treachery.

    Jerry has just embarked on a career as an art restorer, working
    as a freelancer but eagerly applying for positions in the
    museums of Toronto and London. Among her clients is a
    prestigious dealer who has given her a seventeenth-century
    painting to restore and prepare for auction. As Jerry removes
    modern overpaint, working meticulously through the first layer,
    she wonders why the oil paint below is so sensitive to solvents.
    A genuine painting of this era wouldn't respond in quite this
    way to her treatment. She takes a tiny sample of the painting to
    a conservation laboratory where microscopic and x-ray analysis
    suggest that below the surface paint, is another painting which
    may actually be the work of a Dutch master. Jerry slowly
    uncovers another painting underneath the first surface. Still,
    she has her doubts and wants to put the painting through one
    final procedure to confirm its true age. But her client refuses,
    and takes it to auction where it is declared authentic.

    Suddenly Jerry finds herself in danger; an attempt is made on
    her life. Someone is trying to silence her, but why? And what
    can she do about it? Determined to dig more deeply into the
    mystery, Jerry travels to Europe in a search for the truth about
    the painting's authenticity.

     Written by a professional art restorer who specializes in
     historical oil painting materials and techniques, Masterpiece
     of Deception is a fast-paced mystery that takes the reader
     behind the fascinating scenes of art restoration and into the
     high-stakes world of art fraud.

     About the Author: Judy Lester is the pen name of Dr. Leslie
     Carlyle. Carlyle received her master's degree in Paintings
     Conservation at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario and her
     PhD from the Conservation Department of the Courtauld Institute
     of Art, University of London. Originally a paintings restorer,
     Carlyle now carries out internationally recognized research of
     historical oil painting materials and techniques at the
     Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa. She is the author of
     The Artist's Assistant: Oil Painting Instruction Manuals and
     Handbooks in Britain 1800-1900, With Reference to Selected
     Eighteenth-Century Sources (Archetype Publications).
     Masterpiece of Deception is her first suspense novel.

Order information:

    Available in Ottawa from Prime Crime Bookstore on Bank or
    Order from University of Toronto Press  (416-667-7832 or toll
    free: 1-800-565-9523) or Sumach Press: e-mail
    <sumachpress [at] on__aibn__com> 1415 Basthurst St. #202, Toronto ON
    Canada M5R3H8

Vicki Davis
Reference Librarian
Canadian Conservation Institute Library
1030 Innes Road
Ottawa, ON K1A 0M5
613-998-3721
Fax: 613-998-4721


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:32
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 16, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-15-32-009
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