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Watson and Todeschini set out to present the Italians' case to the readers and needed an extensive description of the paper trail to avoid the appearance of bias. The book has left me with a better understanding of the current art scene, especially regarding dealers and curators, and of the issues surrounding looted antiquities. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about stolen antiquities. This might be unnecessary now that so many museums have caved in and returned art to Italy, but it was definitely important to include all these details in 2006 when the hardcover edition of the book was published in the States.I was impressed by the flowing, accessible style, and the authors' ability to make protagonists come to life. A tour-de-force. It reads like a thriller - it does have a lot of details, as others have mentioned, and the authors do become very indignant at times, but I believe this is because the book was published a few years ago, when museums still dragged their feet to send looted art back to Italy, and it was not yet clear in the media whether the Italians had a case or were just being annoying. I first heard about the controversy in ARTNews, which takes pride in unbiased reporting, and even then, it was difficult not to feel at the beginning that the Italians were asking for too much because they were targeting so many American museums.
The archeological countries also are at fault: If you leave hugely valuable items in the ground, and don't invest in excavating them under secure, academically and legally sound conditions, it is inevitable that illicit looters will do it for you. Yet in the end the sheer force of the information it compiles, with detail and comprehension of the larger picture, leads to confidence in its conclusion: It is impossible to build, in modern times, a great collection of quality antiquities without relying chiefly on, and feeding and sustaining, unlawful traffic in looted items. This book is fascinating and important reading for anyone interested in the intersections of the art world, commerce and crime. The Medici Conspiracy is not the most deftly written, and at times seems more like a very, very, very long newspaper story than a book.
If I have any complaint, it is that the book at times gives too much information, which slows down the pace of the narrative as the author reveals how the investigation of Medici, Robert Hecht, Robin Symes, Marion True, and others came to pass. This book is a well written, well researched book about looted antiquities. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the subject, or anyone interested in looted art in general.
It stands as a clear insight into the dark realm of unlawful antiquities excavation, illicit smuggling and clandestine sale- an increasingly important issue in our "global economy" world where buyers and sellers can come together across oceans with little effort, and without regard to laws that may govern certain antiquities transactions.At times, it reads a bit choppy. I almost feel bad detracting a star for this, but if you're going to sell a book as a story rather than an academic study, I do believe certain concessions should be made for ease of reading.Nevertheless, still a great book, well worth purchasing. I give this book a definite four stars because it is a worthy representation of the story and gives the account of what happened with great zeal. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the authors were careful to include all pertinent data, instead of sacrificing the volume of fact for the sake of the story. This book will probably become one of the classics on the topic of art smuggling and the attendant markets. The topic itself is fascinating. In my opinion, various Federal Art/Cultural Property Crime units would be well served by making this book mandatory reading for their agents.
I'll be looking for other titles by this author. Have been waiting for some time to read this book, and I really enjoyed it. Of course I like art-related mysteries and other stories anyway.
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