
Stealing the Mystic Lamb
The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece
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Narrated by:
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John Allen Nelson
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By:
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Noah Charney
Jan van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece is on any art historian's list of the 10 most important paintings ever made. Often referred to by the subject of its central panel, the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, it represents the fulcrum between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also the most frequently stolen artwork of all time.
Since its completion in 1432, this 12-panel oil painting has been looted in three different wars, burned, dismembered, forged, smuggled, illegally sold, censored, hidden, attacked by iconoclasts, hunted by the Nazis and Napoleon, used as a diplomatic tool, ransomed, rescued by Austrian double-agents, and stolen a total of 13 times. In this fast-paced, real-life thriller, art historian Noah Charney unravels the stories of each of these thefts. In the process, he illuminates the whole fascinating history of art crime and the psychological, ideological, religious, political, and social motivations that have led many men to covet this one masterpiece above all others.
©2010 Noah Charney (P)2010 TantorListeners also enjoyed...




















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Some of the symbols were discussed, but not the mystic symbolism, other than the obvious. Even the parts which could have been exciting and suspenseful were not written to keep one's interest.
I wanted to like it, and I did learn a bit but was irritated the whole time. Perhaps it was the narrator -- listen first and decide if you can listen to hours of the guy.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
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Is there anything you would change about this book?
the first 7 chapters the reader was going time and a half. all of a sudden starting with Chapter 8 it became a normal audio book. this is one that would definitely be better read.Any additional comments?
Very interesting history lesson. it didn't live up to the Audible and Goodreads description, but none the less very good history story.terrible audio quality
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Would you listen to Stealing the Mystic Lamb again? Why?
yes. Because there are many details that go missing in a first time through.What was one of the most memorable moments of Stealing the Mystic Lamb?
the unique place in history the Lamb occupiesHow did the narrator detract from the book?
The narrator has a Jack Webb type staccato style that lacks suitable inflection to appropriately reflect the drama in the story. He also has a very poor command of French, and other non-English, pronunciation. Granted there are lots of nationalities' names in the story.If you could give Stealing the Mystic Lamb a new subtitle, what would it be?
Entertaining story of the life, so far, of an eternally valuable workgreat story poor narration
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I found this book a hard read
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The text itself was hard to follow at times. I found the topic itself to be very interesting and therefore, I stuck with it.
Narrator did a great disservice to the book.
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