The Raphael Affair (25 page)

‘I hate to have to tell you, but he also used a Raphael. The sale records show that the portrait of Elisabetta di Laguna was sold, as “portrait of a lady, copy after Fra Bartolommeo” for three thousand Belgian francs, to Jean-Luc Morneau. There is one photograph of it.’

The picture Argyll had first seen in a Roman restaurant appeared on the screen. ‘The critical proof is the left hand,’ Argyll continued, indicating the area with a little pointer. ‘You see there is a ring.’ An even more blurred enlargement flashed up. ‘It is designed as two entwined pelicans. That, of course, is the symbol of the di Parma family. Elisabetta was the Marchese’s mistress, and it was quite in order that she should wear the ring to show to whom she belonged. The liaison, after all, was hardly kept a secret.

‘It needs only a brief comparison of the forgery and the original’ – two slides flashed up on the screen – ‘to see the similarities in the backgrounds of the two paintings. That was why the tests failed to reveal that the picture was a fake. The bits examined were very much genuine.

‘Morneau needed an authentic Italian canvas of the
right period, and some passable paintwork to create the illusion of a real Raphael. It seems that he had better raw material than he could ever have realised. He scored through the accumulated dirt of two centuries, probably with some dilute acid, to prepare the surface for his work. I don’t imagine that he ever paid much attention to the original painting that lay underneath the grime. To us, after all, it hardly appears to be the representation of a great beauty. Tastes change. Nearly all of Raphael’s work, except this window and parts of the interior against which the figure is framed, was simply erased so that he could paint his fake Raphael on top. As you know, what remained was destroyed, along with Morneau’s work, during the attack in the museum.’

The result was better than he had hoped. He had expected tumultuous applause, roars of approval, programme notes thrown into the air. He got none of that, but the reaction was still more satisfying. Faced with the stunned amazement of the audience, he folded up his paper and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he clattered noisily down the steps from the podium, his metal-tipped shoes echoing across the silent hall. Flavia was waiting for him, beaming with delight.

‘Slow but sure. What a clever thing you are, after all,’ she said. And kissed him, gently, on the nose.

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The Raphael Affair
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About the Author

Iain Pears was born in 1955, educated at Wadham College, Oxford and won the Getty Scholarship to Yale University. He is the author of the bestsellers
An Instance of the Fingerpost
and
The Dream of Scipio
, as well as his acclaimed series of Jonathan Argyll art mysteries. He lives with his wife and son in Oxford.

Also by Iain Pears

An Instance of the Fingerpost
The Dream of Scipio
The Portrait

JONATHAN ARGYLL NOVELS

The Immaculate Deception
Death and Restoration
Giotto’s Hand
The Last Judgement
The Bernini Bust The Titian Committee

Copyright

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by Victor Gollancz Ltd 1990

Copyright © Iain Pears 1990

Iain Pears asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007229178
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2014 ISBN: 9780007369348
Version: 2014-01-02

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