A true-life thriller completely exposes the network behind the illegal trade in ancient artifacts--and features a rich cast of rogues and some of the world's most prestigious art institutions

The story begins, as stories do in all good thrillers, with a botched robbery and a police chase. Eight Apuleian vases of the fourth century B.C. are discovered in the swimming pool of a German-based art smuggler. More valuable than the recovery of the vases, however, is the discovery of the smuggler's card index detailing his deals and dealers. It reveals the existence of a web of tombaroli-tomb raiders-who steal classical artifacts, and a network of dealers and smugglers who spirit them out of Italy and into the hands of wealthy collectors and museums.

Peter Watson, a former investigative journalist for the London Sunday Times and author of two previous exposes of art world scandals, names the key figures in this network that has depleted Europe's classical artifacts. Among the loot are the irreplaceable and highly collectable vases of Euphronius, the equivalent in their field of the sculpture of Bernini or the painting of Michelangelo. The narrative leads to the doors of some major institutions: Sothebys, the Getty Museum in L.A., the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York among them.

Filled with great characters and human drama, The Medici Conspiracy authoritatively exposes another shameful round in one of the oldest games in the world: theft, smuggling and duplicitous dealing, all in the name of art.

彼得·沃森，1943年生，就读于伦敦和罗马的达勒姆大学。《今日种族》杂志创办人和主编，《新社会》杂志的副主编，他既给《泰晤士报》、《纽约时报》、《观察家》这样的主流报刊当过记者、写过专栏、也为《旁观者》、《笨拙》这样的流行杂志撰稿，还做过艺术电视片的制作人。1998年起任剑桥大学麦克唐纳考古研究所研究员。主要著作有<20世纪思想史>

塞西莉亚·托德斯基尼(Cecilia Todeschini)，研究员、翻译及英国广播公司、意大利电视台、美国哥伦比亚广播公司、美国广播公司、加拿大广播公司等多家媒体撰稿人。