Brilliant

I really enjoyed learning about two of the most famous pieces of Art. I liked how detailed it was historically and the views of both Artists. I highly recommend this. Narration was excellent too

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Renaissance Italy

Most original and imaginative story telling Weaves together the lives of these giant of the renaissance in a persuasive and romantic tale.captures the atmosphere of this amazingly fertile time in the history of art Informative and well researched without being pedantic or condescending to the reader Want to rush off to Firenze! Thank you , Lynne

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A really great story

I’m an art lover & I loved this story & it’s encouraged me to go back & look at David & Mona Lisa again

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Brilliant

Brilliant storytelling around some of the finest geniuses of their time and their works of art.

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American accent for this - really?

When a period novel about Renaissance Italy is on the cusp of being good, it would be helped enormously if it were not to be delivered in a broad American accent. I'm afraid this audio book was spoiled by this for me. No particular fault of the narrator at all - just that it needs a more appropriate dialect.

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2 people found this helpful

absolutely marvelous story

love every minute, captivated me since chapter 1 and just kept getting better, feel so real and relatable the way its written and narrated. so sad it ended. a must listen for art lovers and artist alike

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Excellent

Enjoyed every moment of this exceptionally read and produced jaunt through the history and lives of extraordinary different sentient souls that will forever be remembered for their creative spirit and ability to ride out the storms of their times; beauty is perpetual.
Tom O'Rourke 1953 ..? love always

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Absolutely loved this!

As an artist, I absolutely loved this! I loved the description of artistic mediums and the inspirations and the sketching/painting/sculpting/creating but also the bringing to life of the making of these masterpieces and the masters who created them! 100% recommend this book to fellow artists!

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Coffee table art lovers dream book

I had this ebook from the plus catalogue and am so pleased I listened to it. The story is beautifully written with interesting and believable detail that suggests to me that the author Stephanie Storey understands art and art history well. The book was easy to listen to and the narrator PJ Ochlan managed to bring just sufficient voice to his characters to keep the listener engaged. The story was in fact so interesting and full of both well imagined detail as well as historical snippets that the listener is very well entertained even though I feel the narrator was ever so slightly flat in his reading presentation. I recommend this book highly to anyone who likes a pleasant easy to listen to and quite intelligent historical fiction. Whilst this book is under the category of fiction, many of the events are documented history and the author has used that true documented history to create a very plausible and engaging story around these great giants of western art. Love this book entirely and can’t praise it enough. I will look for more from this author.

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Keep listening and try to ignore American accent

The American accent of the reader is very off-putting for non-American listeners: no disrespect intended to the narrator.
The issue is that the story is set in the first decade of the 1500’s namely renaissance Italy and more specifically Florence. The Americas were only discovered in 1492. Accordingly for a historical novel there is a huge disjoint between the American narration, the American terminology and accuracy of period details. There is also the irritation of the American narration jumping to using various Italian accents during the extensive dialogues of the characters. It would have been more authentic for a real Italian who speaks English with an Italian accent to narrate.
At one point there is reference to a stew of tomatoes and beans. Were tomatoes known in 1503/4 in Italy since they came from the new world discovered in 1492? Even if known by then in Italy would they have entered into everyday cooking for ordinary people?
There is much reference to the statue of David being covered by a tarp. This sounds like slang to non- American ears which are used to the word tarpaulin to refer to such a covering. It just does not sound culturally correct for the period to refer to a tarp.
Then there are a number of descriptions of Leonardo in particular and his clothes of pink and purple wearing tails. Firstly is there any evidence of what colours he wore and secondly tails as male dress sounds more like nineteenth century attire than sixteenth.

These are nitpicking points about the book and the reading.

On the other hand it is a novel, and the author has generally done a good job of weaving an engaging story around the few known facts in order to put flesh on the bones of the known characters for a specific historical period.
I really enjoyed learning about the process used by Michelangelo for his execution of the statue of David. I saw it at the age of 9 in Florence in 1970 in the days before hordes of tourists . It did not occur to me then that it was such a major piece of work for the sculptor.

15 years ago I took my son to Paris and we saw the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, at a distance, due to the tourists in front of the painting. We were not very impressed and preferred the huge Delacroix painting of Napoleon crowning himself.
However since listening to this book I now understand better what the painting depicts.
I have previously read another book about Leonardo , a novel, La Gioconda, which makes it clear that there are sparse details known of the man and the subject of the painting. This novel does a good imaginative job of turning sparse facts into living and breathing characters. Although no one can ever know exactly what went on in the minds of the main protagonists at the time.
I think this book is likely to appeal more to artists and persons interested in history of art.
It could be quite a polemic book for discussion at a book group!

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