Leonardo's Holy Child: The Discovery of a Leonardo Da Vinci Masterpiece; A Connoisseur's Search for Lost Art in America

In this intriguing book, independent art historian and art dealer Kline describes his serendipitous discovery of a Leonardo Da Vinci drawing from an unattributed reproduction in a Christie's catalogue in 2000, and relives the 15-year-long investigation into the drawing's history that followed. Equal parts autobiography and art history, Kline's story points to his struggle to find a career that suited his "inner poet" and the significance the Holy Child drawing took on in his marriage. Guided by figures such as Bernard Berenson, a "self-made connoisseur of Italian Renaissance art," mythologist and philosopher Joseph Campbell, and art dealer Eugene Victor Thaw, Kline enthusiastically (though sometimes extravagantly) conveys his love of connoisseurship and of "art exploring"%E2%80%94combing through thrift stores, flea markets, antique shops, and estate sales in search of lost treasures. Studying Leonardo, he writes, "was like reading a wonderful and exciting book that you kept putting down, prolonging the pleasure for another day, not wanting it to end." Part two offers several chapters concerning other discoveries by Kline, including two of the rarest and earliest New World sculptures from Colonial Mexico and lost paintings by Vermeer, Jan Brueghel the Elder, Gottlieb Schick, and George Caleb Bingham. The collector's investigations highlight the misleading and seemingly manipulative behavior of auction houses and museum experts, eventually leading Kline to the conclusion that "all was fair in love and war, and apparently in art bidding." Kline's personal narrative provides a look into the world of lost art and those who search for it. Color illus. (May)