The Seventh Secret Read Online Free PDF

wooden slats."
    It was apparently light, because he needed only one hand to grasp it and pass it over the desk to Kirvov.
    Kirvov had it before him under the glare of his over-head fluorescents. He judged it to be fifteen inches across and twelve inches high. It was a dark oil canvas, a rather somber painting of what appeared to be the front of a weather-beaten official building of some sort or other. It had been rendered by the artist from across a wide street, so that one could see the pillars before the entrance to the six-story stone building. The inset entrance and the decorated wall to its left were dim and lost in shadows. There was no signature.
    "A government building, I'd guess," said Kirvov. "it could have been done by Hitler. He was partial toward painting buildings in Linz, Vienna, Munich. But I don't recognize this one from what I know of those cities or of Hitler's other art." He looked up. "Any idea where and what this is?"
    "No idea. The gallery wasn't sure, either. But they guaranteed me, from the provenance, it was by Hitler."
    "What was the provenance?"
    "They said they couldn't reveal that. It was part of their deal in acquiring it. Anyway, they were positive it was by Hitler." He hesitated. "I guess someone did not want to admit owning an original Hitler from the old days. Is it real?"
    "Umm, possibly real," murmured Kirvov, studying the painting closely. "Mostly, he did not paint canvases this large. He was supposed to have made three hundred pictures. Only a handful have survived. He did some drawing in his youth, in Linz where he went to Realschule , what Americans would call high school. Then in 1907 he went to Vienna to enter the Academy Of Fine Arts. There was a two-part test. In the first half, Hitler was told to depict, among other subjects, Cain killing Abel. In the second half, he had to paint or draw the Good Samaritan and Noah's Flood. His test verdict read, 'Test drawing unsatisfactory.' Hitler returned a year later for another attempt to enter the Academy of Fine Arts. His new samples were regarded as poor, and he was not allowed to take the test again."
    "So he became a politician."
    "Not yet. He was bitter about the Academy of Fine Arts' rejection and blamed his failure on the Jewish bureaucrats he claimed dominated the academy. Still, he didn't go into politics right away. He went on with his painting to support himself meagerly. He did watercolors of postcard size, copies from real postcards, and he had a friend who peddled them in return for half the income. His friend sold them to art dealers who needed innocuous pictures to fill empty frames for display, and to furniture dealers who varnished the pictures on wooden chairs and love seats."
    "Did he do any larger pictures?" asked Ricci.
    "Yes, eventually. Some twice the size of postcards. A few oils the size of this one you've brought me. Even some posters. He signed all of them 'A. Hitler.' He usually earned thirty-six to fifty-four rubles—ten to fifteen dollars in your money—for each one sold."
    "And you know that he favored buildings over portraits?"
    "Definitely. He had no feel for people. Someone once said that when he drew human figures they looked like stuffed sacks. But he had an eye for architecture. When he moved to Munich he registered himself as an 'architectural painter.' " Kirvov paused to examine the canvas on his desk again. "Considering Hitler's taste, this could have been done by him." Kirvov stood up, the canvas in hand. "One second."
    He went to the door of his secretary's office, and opened it. "Sonya," he called out. "Have Comrade Zorin take a look at this." He handed the painting to his secretary. "Tell him this unsigned oil supposedly was painted by Adolf Hitler. Tell him I'd like his opinion."
    Returning to his desk, Kirvov said, "Comrade Zorin is one of our experts who shares my interest in Hitler's youthful artistic follies. Most definitely, buildings. In 1911, he drew the Minorite Church in Vienna.