Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121 - Portrait Of Titus (2)
Chapter 122 - Visitor From The Desert (1)
Chapter 123 - Visitor From The Desert (2)
Chapter 124 - Visitor From The Desert (3)
Chapter 125 - Visitor From The Desert (4)
Chapter 126 - Rookie Of Boston Red Sox (1)
Chapter 127 - Rookie Of Boston Red Sox (2)
Chapter 128 - Buddhist Scripture Written With Gold (1)
Chapter 129 - Buddhist Scripture Written With Gold (2)
Chapter 130 - Buddhist Scripture Written With Gold (3)
Chapter 131 - Chaebol, Painting, And Happy Tears (1)
Chapter 132 - Chaebol, Painting, And Happy Tears (2)
Chapter 133 - Chaebol, Painting, And Happy Tears (3)
Chapter 134 - Enemies Are Everywhere (1)
Chapter 135 - Enemies Are Everywhere (2)
Chapter 136 - More Paintings (1)
Chapter 137 - More Paintings (2)
Chapter 138 - To Florence, Italy… (1)
Chapter 139 - To Florence, Italy… (2)
Chapter 140 - To Florence, Italy… (3)
Chapter 141 - People Who Are After The Masterpiece (1)
Chapter 142 - People Who Are After The Masterpiece (2)
Chapter 143 - People Who Are After The Masterpiece (3)
Chapter 144 - The Medici And The Aristocrats (1)
Chapter 145 - The Medici And The Aristocrats (2)
Chapter 146 - The Medici And The Aristocrats (3)
Chapter 147 - The Medici And The Aristocrats (4)
Chapter 148 - The Medici And The Aristocrats (5)
Chapter 149 - Drawings In The Charity Auction (1)
Chapter 150 - Drawings In The Charity Auction (2)
Chapter 151 - Drawings In The Charity Auction (3)
Chapter 152 - Drawings In The Charity Auction (4)
Chapter 153 - Drawings In The Charity Auction (5)
Chapter 154 - Now, To London… (1)
Chapter 155 - Now, To London… (2)
Chapter 156 - Now, To London… (3)
Chapter 157 - Now, To London… (4)
Chapter 158 - Seeing The Light Again (1)
Chapter 159 - Seeing The Light Again (2)
Chapter 160 - Seeing The Light Again (3)
Chapter 161 - Seeing The Light Again (4)
Chapter 162 - Uninvited Guest (1)
Chapter 163 - Uninvited Guest (2)
Chapter 164 - Uninvited Guest (3)
Chapter 165 - Uninvited Guest (4)
Chapter 166 - Dark Shadow (1)
Chapter 167 - Dark Shadow (2)
Chapter 168 - Dark Shadow (3)
Chapter 169 - Change And Progress (1)
Chapter 170 - Change, And Progress (2)
Chapter 171 - Change, And Progress (3)
Chapter 172 - Appraiser Talks Through Appraising (1)
Chapter 173 - Appraiser Talks Through Appraising (2)
Chapter 174 - Appraiser Talks Through Appraising (3)
Chapter 175 - Appraiser Talks Through Appraising (4)
Chapter 176 - Appraiser Talks Through Appraising (5)
Chapter 177 - Inheritance Left By The Parents (1)
Chapter 178 - Inheritance Left By The Parents (2)
Chapter 179 - Inheritance Left By The Parents (3)
Chapter 180 - Inheritance Left By The Parents (4)
Chapter 181 - Star Appraiser (1)
Chapter 182 - Star Appraiser (2)
Chapter 183 - Star Appraiser (3)
Chapter 184 - Terms Of Return Of Artifacts (1)
Chapter 185 - Terms Of Return Of Artifacts (2)
Chapter 186 - Terms Of Return Of Artifacts (3)
Chapter 187 - Terms Of Return Of Artifacts (4)
Chapter 188 - Terms Of Return Of Artifacts (5)
Chapter 189 - Artifact From North Korea (1)
Chapter 190 - Artifact From North Korea (2)
Chapter 191 - Artifact Match (1)
Chapter 192 - Artifact Match (2)
Chapter 193 - Artifact Match (3)
Chapter 194 - Artifact Match (4)
Chapter 195 - Artifact Match (5)
Chapter 196 - What Happened In Austria (1)
Chapter 197 - What Happened In Austria (2)
Chapter 198 - What Happened In Austria (3)
Chapter 199 - What Happened In Austria (4)
Chapter 200 - Bait To Catch The Big Fish (1)
Chapter 201 - Bait To Catch The Big Fish (2)
Chapter 202 - What The Depressed Man Left (1)
Chapter 203 - What The Depressed Man Left (2)
Chapter 204 - Where The Faith Leads Him To (1)
Chapter 205 - Add Painting To Painting (1)
Chapter 206 - Add Painting To Painting (2)
Chapter 207 - Add Painting To Painting (3)
Chapter 208 - Finally, To There… (1)
Chapter 209 - Finally, In There… (2)
Chapter 210 (End) - Epilogue
Categories Genre: All, Completed, Fantasy, Supernatural Status: Completed ______
Total Chapters in book: 210
Estimated words: 468205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2341(@200wpm)___ 1873(@250wpm)___ 1561(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 468205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2341(@200wpm)___ 1873(@250wpm)___ 1561(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 210 Page No. 209 Page No. 208 Page No. 207 Page No. 206 Page No. 205 Page No. 204 Page No. 203 Page No. 202 Page No. 201 Page No. 200 Chapter 140 - To Florence, Italy… (3)
Chapter 140: To Florence, Italy… (3)
Most people have a not-so-good image about artists. You might think of a madman with mental diseases like Gogh, or a man with crooked hatred for women like Degas.
At least you would think an artist is someone with a shaggy beard, free soul, and stubbornness.
However, Raphael was a little different. He worked during the prime days of the Renaissance, and unlike other artists, he was good looking and had good manners.
His father was a court painter. Because of him, Raphael often went to the court with him. So, he could learn a noblemen’s elegant and refined manner.
His Self-portrait, aged 23, clearly shows his handsome appearance. He was a very good-looking boy.
Additionally, he was great at depicting characters with beauty and elegance.
This painting was no different. It was the drawing of a feminine face. Raphael had drawn it to practice an important or tricky part of a painting he wanted to make.
He put the original drawing on a new piece of paper and made small holes on the outline and pressed chalk on it. He changed the shape as he wanted and filled the rest of the line.
It was probably a drawing he made to paint on a wall by following the pope’s directions, and at seeing it, Haejin recalled a painting.
“Hmm… I guess you think this is part of the wall painting in Mount Parnassus?”
Claudia was a little surprised and said, “Yes. We assume this was drawn as practice before Raphael painted in the Stanza della Segnature. It must be part of the series of four paintings he made at the time.”
Haejin nodded.
“Hmm…”
It was an excellent sketch. However, the problem was that the lines felt somewhat uneven.
That was why he tilted his head. He could see that it was different from the flaw of lines he had felt from another Raphael’s drawing.
The other appraisers must have felt that as well. That was probably why they couldn’t be sure if it was real, but they couldn’t conclude it as fake without any evidence, either.
That’s why the discussion of many people is needed to decide if a work of art is real, and a clear proof is required to conclude it as fake. Without any proof, it remains as unknown.
Haejin examined the painting for a long time, but he couldn’t find out which part felt so awkward. In the end, he decided to use magic.
He immediately used saliva to cast magic and look into the past, and…
Haejin grinned. Claudia then took a step toward him and asked, “Have you found out something?”
Haejin now knew why experts had been so confused by this painting. That’s why he couldn’t help but smile when he saw the past.
Instead of answering, he went behind the painting. Then, he carefully examined the wood board.
“What are you doing?” Claudia asked, but Haejin raised his hand.
“Do you have a flat-head screwdriver? If you don’t, a hard pen will do…”
“What on earth are you doing?” The woman asked again.
“I’m trying to appraise.”
Claudia was really mad now. She put her hands at her waist and snapped, “If this is real, how much do you think it would be? 10 million dollars? 20 million? The price will be beyond your imagination!”
Haejin snorted.
“I’m an appraiser. I don’t know if Giorgio Sayor is your boss or an official in charge of you, but he acknowledged me, and Prince Sahmadi of the Arab Emirates didn’t question my abilities. Who do you think you are to protest about my appraising methods?”
“Huh! I’ve seen many appraisers so far. Among those who boasted in front of me, most turned out to be frauds. One left a handprint on a painting that was worth more than 10 million after trying to appraise it, and one almost dropped Michelangelo’s sculpture. Each of them argued that he or she was the best appraiser in the world, but… well, to me, they all looked the same.”
She explained that she had her reasons to doubt Haejin, but to him, it just sounded like nonsense.
“Then find someone else. I haven’t finished appraising yet. Don’t forget I can always get the cancellation fee and go back to Korea.”
Claudia clenched her fists and glared at Haejin.
“If you damage that painting even a little bit… I will throw you in jail in the local police station immediately.”
Haejin looked at her and straightened his back.
“Okay. I like bets, so let’s do this. I will not receive my fee if there’s a logical flaw to my conclusion, even if I don’t harm the painting. Of course, if I do harm the painting, I will neither resist nor ask the help of the Korean embassy as you drag me to the police station. But…”
Claudia lifted her chin as she waited for Haejin’s terms.
“If my conclusion is logically perfect, I want to take a slightly bigger fee.”
Claudia scolded him, “Ha! So, it was all about money, after all. How much do you want?”
“A million dollars, that should be enough.”
Actually, Haejin wanted to ask for something else other than money. For instance, the other artifacts that the criminals, who had stolen Raphael’s painting, had…
However, he asked for money because Claudia had no authorization to keep that promise.
They were Italian artifacts, and a researcher of the gallery couldn’t promise to give it to anyone.
On the other hand, money was different. It would be part of the operating funds of the Park Haejin Art Museum that was growing every day, and more money was always good. He would be able to buy more actively.
That was why getting more money was always good, but if Princess Hassena had been alive, Haejin would have walked away instead of negotiating about the fee.
“A million dollars? Are you mad?”
Unlike Haejin’s thought’s, Claudia glared at him clearly thinking that he was really mad, but Haejin didn’t care. He went back to Eunhae and prepared to leave.
“If you don’t want to accept that, let’s quit everything.”
The cancellation fee was about a million dollars. Either way, Claudia was about to lose that money, so she had every reason to get shocked, but Haejin wasn’t going to go easy on her.
“Okay. Let’s go and take a tour.”
Eunhae agreed in English and enraged Claudia even more. She eventually accepted.
“Fine. If you are so confident, let’s make that bet. Note that I cannot pay you if there’s the smallest flaw with your answer.”
“Whatever… then let’s fix the contract.”
They changed the contract right away, and Haejin started to appraise again.
Claudia focused on Haejin who had a screwdriver in his hand. Claudia was ready to stop him if he tried to harm the painting.
He carefully put it on a side of the wood board and broadened the gap. At that moment…
“Hey, hey!”
Claudia came in surprise, and Eunhae stopped her from disturbing Haejin. Then, another wood board was revealed little by little…
“Huh? Huh?”
Eunhae let go of Claudia and came in surprise.
“This second wood board was attached after the drawing was made, right?”
“Yes,” Claudia calmed herself down quickly and coolly asked, “So what about it? It’s just a thin wood board added to the main board.”
A corner of Haejin’s lips curled up as he scolded her.
“It looks that way, of course. You might think that if you don’t know much about paintings.”
“What, what? You’re saying I don’t know much about paintings?”
Haejin slowly separated the drawing from the wood board and carefully showed her its back.
“If you are, you can’t say this is only a thin wood board.”
Claudia examined it carefully. Then, she frowned at finding a signature. She was trying to find out what it was, but her frown didn’t fade.
“Umm…”
She couldn’t figure out who it belonged to.
“Why? You don’t know whose signature it is?”
“It doesn’t look like Raphael’s…”
It wasn’t Raphael’s, of course. However, she couldn’t be sure if the drawing was fake. She didn’t know who had written it and with what meaning.
“Just as I thought… you are not good enough.”
Haejin chided her while the woman’s face turned red. She looked up and spoke to Haejin.
“Stop that and tell me what kind of meaning this signature has and who wrote it. I hope you didn’t ask me without knowing it yourself?”
Of course not. However, Haejin was sure she was hoping for Haejin to not know it.
“There was a very famed workshop in Napoli in the 17th century. Do you know it?”
Claudia answered.
“A workshop? Are you trying to talk about its owner, Jusepe de Ribera?”
She had studied well, even though she wasn’t that good at appraising.
“Oho… so you know him.”
“Are you kidding me? So? What are you trying to say?”
“Ribera was making a painting influenced by Caravaggio when he ran a huge workshop in Napoli.”
At this, Eunhae spoke a word that was the answer.
“Caravaggisti!”
Haejin gave her the thumbs-up and continued.
“Yes. There was no one else as good as Ribera among the Caravaggistis, followers of Caravaggio. And that Ribera had an apprentice, do you know him?”
Claudia was puzzled now, she couldn’t answer that question.
That was because she had focused on the restoration and preservation of artifacts instead of learning art history deeply, but still, she was humiliated.
“So, so what is the conclusion?” She yelled.
Haejin pointed at the signature at the back of the painting.
“This isn’t Raphael’s signature. This belongs to Luca Giordano, Riber’s favorite apprentice.”
“Then, then…”
Claudia turned pale. Haejin gave her the final sentence.
“Unfortunately, this painting isn’t Raphael’s. This is a forgery made by Luca Giordano. It’s a shame for the people of the Cultural Administration and you, but I think those criminals let you retrieve this on purpose, to screw you over.”
Total Chapters in book: 210
Estimated words: 468205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2341(@200wpm)___ 1873(@250wpm)___ 1561(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 468205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 2341(@200wpm)___ 1873(@250wpm)___ 1561(@300wpm)
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