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The riveting story of a museum director caught in a web of local and international intrigue while secretly pursuing a forgotten Renaissance painting-the Boston Raphael. On the eve of its centennial celebrations in 1969, the Boston MFA announced the acquisition of an unknown and uncatalogued painting attributed to Raphael. Boston's coup made headlines around the world. Soon, an Italian art sleuth began investigating the painting's export from Italy, challenging the museum's ownership. Simultaneously, experts on both sides of the Atlantic lined up to debate its very authenticity. The museums charismatic director, Perry T. Rathbone, faced the most challenging crossroads of his career. The Boston Raphael was a media sensation in its time, but the full story of the forces that converged on the museum and how they intersected with the challenges of the Sixties is now revealed in full detail by the director's daughter.
About the author
Belinda Rathbone is a biographer and historian who has written widely on 20th-century American art and photography. In addition to
The Boston Raphael, she is the author of
Walker Evans: A Biography,
George Rickey: A Life in Balance, a memoir,
The Guynd, and edited the forthcoming,
In the Company of Art: A Museum Director's Private Journals by Perry T. Rathbone.
Summary
On the eve of its centennial celebrations in December 1969, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts announced the acquisition of an unknown and uncatalogued painting attributed to Raphael. This book tells the story of a museum director caught in a web of local and international intrigue while secretly pursuing a forgotten Renaissance pointing.
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Praise for The Boston Raphael
"Perhaps the most exciting book on the art world since Jonathan Harr’s The Lost Painting."—The Boston Globe
"In the compelling story of her father, Perry Rathbone, and the years when he was the elegant and revolutionary director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Belinda Rathbone evokes our country’s most glamorous years… The Boston Raphael is a combination of personal memoir and rich, deliciously detailed history that will keep you turning the pages."—Susan Cheever
"In this fascinating book about a watershed moment in the culture of America’s art museums, Rathbone (Walker Evans) considers her father Perry Rathbone’s directorship at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) . . . [Rathbone’s] book sheds light on museology of the present as well as of the past."—Publishers Weekly
