Featured Book: The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Sara Trucksess

The Flanders Panel was recommended by nearly every academic site I perused for art novel recommendations this year. Although it was written in 1990 by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte, this mystery art novel remains timeless while carrying a fairly academic tone. And although some of the humor and emotion originally intended by the characters may get lost in translation, this is still an interesting portrayal of a painting within a painting, and a life that mirrors art in a most unexpected way.

As a great lover of art mysteries, I have an especially soft spot for author Daniel Silva’s art restorer turned spy named Gabriel Allon who scratches a very satisfying itch in the genre of art mysteries. But this novel is the realer deal: less fluff, more academic suspense. Like the grown up older sibling of Dan Brown’s famous The Da Vinci Code, you need to look alive and pay attention to Perez-Reverte’s detailed nuances so as not to pass right over an important clue. Written almost like one…