''The Rembrandt Affair'' is a 2010

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intellig ...

by Daniel Silva. It is the tenth in the Gabriel Allon series, based in the world of

Israeli intelligence The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman (mi ...

Background

In this novel, Silva returns to the historical milieu of the second Allon novel, ''The English Assassin'' (2002), that is, the looting of artworks by Nazi leaders and the subsequent appropriation of the art by Swiss bankers with whom the loot was deposited. Part of the reason that Silva delved into the topic of

art theft Art theft, sometimes called art napping, is the stealing of paintings, sculptures, or other forms of visual art from galleries, museums or other public and private locations. Stolen art is often resold or used by criminals as collateral to ...

was the realization of the impact it has on the art world. Beginning with the role it played during and after the Holocaust, art theft has continued into the present. Each year, between four and six billion dollars' worth of art and

antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

are stolen, ranking it as the fourth-most lucrative crime behind

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

, arms dealing, and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

. Silva touched on arms trafficking when dealing with the crimes of Ivan Kharkov in '' The Defector'' and '' Moscow Rules''. Silva was also intrigued by the greed that drove people such as

Bernie Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

and he, and some other key figures in the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

were the inspiration behind this book's villain, Martin Landesmann.

Reception

Like others in Silva's Gabriel Allon series, this book was a ''New York Times'' bestseller. ''The Rembrandt Affair'' marked Silva's last book with Putnam after he signed a deal with

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

following Rembrandt's publication.

International titles

* Portuguese: ''O Caso Rembrandt''. (''The Rembrandt Affair''). (2011).

References

External links

* Novels by Daniel Silva 2010 American novels G. P. Putnam's Sons books {{US-novel-stub