The Vanishing Man by Laura Cumming

In 1845 a Reading bookseller came across the portrait of a prince at a country house auction. Suspecting that it might be a longlost Velazquez he bought the picture and set out to discover its strange history a quest that led from fame to ruin and exile. This book shows how and why great works of art can affect us even to the point of mania. Paperback softback