ampldquoWhat I wanted more than anything was to be standing beside Schmidt in concert with Schmidt at the foot of Saint Sebastianamprsquos Abyss along with Schmidt hands cupped to the sides of our faces debating art transcendence and the glory of the apocalypseamprdquo Former best friends who built their careers writing about a single work of art meet after a decadeslong fallingout One of them called to the others deathbed for unknown reasons by a quotrelatively shortquot ninepage email spends his flight to Berlin reflecting on Dutch Renaissance painter Count Hugo Beckenbauer and his masterpiece Saint Sebastians Abyss the work that established both men as important art critics and also destroyed their relationship A darkly comic meditation on art obsession and the enigmatic power of friendship Saint Sebastians Abyss stalks the museum halls of Europe feverishly seeking salvation annihilation and the meaning of belief
