This is a thoroughly enjoyable beautiful book which will appeal to many an art enthousiast. The book takes you on a tour through the ages, from the middle ages to present day, discussing the secrets of artworks based on 8 individual themes. The author discusses for example what is hidden below the surface of a painting, what role censorship has played in the (de)construction of a work or the presence of secret symbols. The author doesn't restrict herself to just paintings but also discusses photography, sculpture and even performance art, from familiar artists like Van Eyck, Caravaggio, Dali and Banksy to lesser known (at least for yours truly) like Kehinde Wiley and Robert Rauschenberg.

Each page brought a smile to my face as I read the accompanying text and then studied the close-ups on details, although after a while this did become slightly formulaic: I felt that some of the works should have deserved a longer consideration to fully appreciate the background. I was quite surprised to find that even some of the pictures I consider myself fairly familiar with, having seen them multiple times, still had secrets to be revealed. However, as the author started the introduction with a discussion of the history of Rembrandt's Night Watch, the one secret I was sure to be revealed wasn't even mentioned (spoiler alert: Rembrandt has included himself in the picture somewhere). Maybe this could be the starting point for The Secret of Art Part 2?

Thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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The Secrets of Art by Debra N Mancoff is an informative and entertaining look at the various ways we have to better understand the story of a work of art, and thus increase our pleasure in looking at it.

The introduction presents both the foundational reasons for this enquiry as well as the myriad ways in which archival research coupled with modern science and technology can unlock many of the mysteries we may not have even known existed. Mancoff does this through presenting these ideas in broad terms and then using The Night Watch as an example of how these questions are both raised and answered. Using this work as an example in the introduction works very well to introduce the book, well, maybe not so much for those who only want a bullet point outline of why the book is important or is even in existence. You know, like gossipy books about President's wives.

The works included range across time and style, with just enough information about each to give a reader unfamiliar with the work and/or its history a starting point for the revelations to come. Like any book that uses a number of works of art, what is included is certainly open for debate. Some might have wanted more commonly known examples included and those who want to gatekeep art might be offended that works they don't like were included, even when they cloak their opposition in pseudo-theoretical manure. But the works included all serve as excellent examples of the many ways the stories and backgrounds of art works can be lost or hidden, and how we can recover those histories.

I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in art and art history, as well as restoration. I also think those with just a passing interest in art will enjoy the mysteries surrounding these works even if the works don't particularly speak to them.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )