The characters in this book were portrayed really well.
Unfortunately the pacing wasn’t good. I felt that due to the problems with the pacing that the plot wasn’t delivered brilliantly.
Could have been better

This book was a lovely change from the usual genres that I read. A fascinating historical fiction on Italy and on art while also weaving in a love story.

Of the major Renaissance artists, I think Raphael is probably slightly less well known than Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. In Kerry Postle’s novel The Woman in the Painting she explores not only the life and work of the man himself but the story of his mistress and model, Margarita Luti. It is thought that Margarita, known as La Fornarina, may have been the subject of Raphael’s painting of the same name and although we don’t know this for certain, Postle takes this theory as the basis for the novel.

We see the relationship between Raphael and Margarita develop through the eyes of Pietro, a young man who, at the beginning of the novel, has just become an apprentice to the artist Sebastiano Luciani (later known as Sebastiano del Piombo). Although Pietro’s duties are limited to cleaning brushes and grinding pigments, he works hard and learns from his master and the more experienced apprentices, but despite knowing that he has been given a wonderful opportunity, he can’t help feeling that Sebastiano’s paintings lack true greatness. Following an accident in the workshop, Pietro is dismissed from his position and thrown out into the street, where he is rescued by Margarita, one of Sebastiano’s models. It is when Pietro is offered a new apprenticeship with Raphael, who is newly arrived in Rome, that Margarita is introduced to Raphael for the first time.

It’s not long before Margarita is sitting for Raphael’s paintings and beginning to fall in love with the artist, but as a woman from a humble background – she’s the daughter of a baker – she is not seen as a suitable wife for Raphael. Meanwhile Pietro is also finding himself attracted to Raphael and the affection he had first felt for Margarita soon turns to jealousy.

I enjoyed The Woman in the Painting, although I think I might have preferred it to have been narrated by Margarita. I felt that the choice of Pietro as narrator held me at a distance from Raphael and Margarita and stopped me from fully understanding their relationship and the emotions involved. The focus instead was more on Pietro’s feelings of envy and resentment and the ways in which he acted on these feelings to try to cause trouble for Margarita and get closer to Raphael himself. Still, Pietro was a complex and very human character and although I didn’t feel a lot of sympathy for him, I couldn’t actually dislike him either.

I didn’t really know a lot about Raphael before I started to read this book, so I found that I was learning a lot from it. The descriptions of the day to day work of the artist and his apprentices in the studio particularly interested me. As recently as 2001, X-ray analysis showed that the woman depicted in La Fornarina had originally worn a ruby ring on her finger which was painted over at some point. There is no historical proof for the explanation Postle gives for this in the novel, but it works in the context of the story. We also see, from Pietro’s perspective, the political situation in Rome at that time and get to know some of the historical figures of the period, including not only Raphael, Michelangelo and Sebastiano, but also Agostini Chigi, Raphael’s patron, and Cardinal Bibbiena, to whose niece Raphael was engaged.

This is the first Kerry Postle novel I’ve read, but I see she has written a few others including The Artist’s Muse, about Gustav Klimt and his model Wally Neuzil. Has anyone read that one and what did you think?

An absolutely wonderful story that elegantly transports the reader to the time that was the Italian Renaissance and the lifestyles of the great painters.

Although there are many versions of the profound love life and affairs of the great painter Raphael and to the young Margarita Luti, this story definitely gives a real voice to Margarita...a model, muse and lover.

We are also introduced to "Pietro", Raphael's accomplished apprentice, his is the voice that drives author Kerry Postle story. It's this voice that makes this story so riveting.

With jealousy, raw ambitions and poignant love affairs,  this artfully composed story breathes life into the woman behind "The Woman in the Painting".

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher HQ Digital, and the author, Ms. Kerry Postle for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "The Woman in the Painting". The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.

The woman in the painting by Kerry Postle.

This book is set in the renaissance period telling the story of Raphael in the later part of his life and his muse Margarita. The story is told by Raphael’s apprentice Pietro who was extremely jealous of their relationship.

A quick read giving insight into this part of history . It is a reasonably good though I found it not really to my taste but should you enjoy this period I’m sure you would enjoy this book. 3.5/5

A beautifully written historical novel that compels the reader to lose themselves in the characters and the story. This story was a read from start to finish in one day for me.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

I found this slow and unappealing but I’m sure others may disagree. It just wasn’t for me but thank you for allowing me to read it.

3.5 stars

This was a fascinating and sophisticated portrait of Renaissance Italy, which told a compelling and insightful story from a unique perspective. Highly character-driven and written with impressive detail throughout, it offered an engaging plot that contained deceit, forbidden romance, and an ounce of tragedy.

While it certainly was not without its faults, I really enjoyed the concept along with the depiction of several famous artists and the way they shaped history. Although the overwhelming majority of the events that take place during the book are fictional, the author displays an excellent knowledge of the time period and succeeds in capturing the essence of the central characters.

This book tells the story of the romance between the celebrated artist Raphael and humble baker's daughter Margarita Luti, from the eyes of one of the maestro's apprentices, Pietro. It begins in 1508 when Pietro is dismissed by the temperamental Michelangelo and finds work with the even more highly-strung Sebastiano, who is in the process of painting La Fornarina, a portrait of Margarita.

After an accident takes place, Pietro loses his job there too only to be reprieved by Raphael, who offers him a position at his workshop. However, that does not prevent Pietro from being cast out on to the streets by his father, where he encounters danger before being rescued by the kind and considerate Margarita.

Pietro develops an immediate attraction towards Raphael and clearly desires him, trying to impress the artist at every opportunity to gain his attention. That backfires on him when he introduces Raphael to Margarita, and the two ultimately fall in love. In the years that follow, he secretly attempts to destroy their relationship.

The most interesting aspect of the book is the decision to tell the story entirely from Pietro's perspective. He occasionally addresses the reader directly and through that, we are made to experience all of his jealous feelings and duplicitous deeds in his personal mission to break Raphael and Margarita apart.

It was good to read for the most part, but in some ways it was also counter-productive as it meant that important parts of the plot were glossed over and not given enough depth. There are several things we are told about rather than actually shown, which made me feel that the addition of a second POV might have proved useful.

As much as Pietro has an engaging voice and tries to justify his actions to the reader, the fact is that he was extremely selfish and disloyal, which made him frustrating and quite unlikable. At the start it was easy to empathise with him as encounters a series of misfortunes, but that soon dissipates after Raphael and Margarita initially meet.

It was interesting to see how a number of renowned artists were portrayed in the book. Unlike his peers, who seem to offset their ability with a paintbrush with a lack of manners, Raphael is shown to be kind and charismatic with an infectious energy. He refuses to criticise others, instead gaining inspiration from their work. These humble traits make him a likeable character.

One less savoury fact about early sixteenth century Rome is the treatment of women. Many of them are sadly considered as mere objects, and the author does not shy away from depicting that. On a happier note, Margarita does not conform to that trend, and as a consequence she is undoubtedly my favourite character in this story.

Margarita is a strong and independent female character who knows her own mind, but she also balances that with being exceptionally kind, tactful and not afraid to tell others how she feels. That makes Pietro's scheming and veiled dislike of her all the more unfathomable and difficult to tolerate.

I found the ending to be bittersweet, but also quite fitting. It contains its fair share of tragedy as fate conspires against Raphael, but there is also an unexpected twist that leads to Pietro earning a chance of redemption. The final chapter was actually quite powerful, although a sub-plot involving a series of deaths was not adequately resolved.

The writing style was eloquent and flowed very nicely, while the book moved at a fairly solid pace. I loved the detail contained within the setting, which made it easy to visualise, even though I felt it lacked a little in terms of atmosphere. The emphasis on art was something I really appreciated, too.

Overall, this was a good read and a very accomplished novel. I liked the manner in which the story was developed and although Pietro is often a frustrating narrator, he has a good voice. It may have benefited from an extra POV and a brighter light shone on sections of the plot, but as a character-driven story, it works well.

Postle’s novel follows the final twelve years of the life of Raphael the painter, through the eyes of a member of his workshop. And not only this, but fictionalises his relationship with the famous La Fornarina, the baker’s daughter, Margarita Luti. This was right up my street, as I am fascinated by Raphael and Margarita, the sitter in his paintings La Fornarina and La Donna Velata – read my post about them here.

Not only this, but I absolutely loved the aim of Postle’s novel, which was to exonerate the reputation of Luti. Famously, Raphael’s cause of death was supposedly a fever from exerting himself through having too much sex – enshrined by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Artists:

“Raphael secretly attended to his love affairs and pursued in his amorous pleasures beyond all moderation, and on one occasion he happened to be even more immoderate than usual; having returned home, for that reason, with a very high fever … So he made his will and first, as a good Christian, sent his mistress away after giving her the means to live honestly; … Then, having confessed and repented, Raphael came to the end of his life’s journey”.

The tale begins with Pietro, who is a member of the workshop of Michelangelo in Rome. The notoriously cantankerous artist throws the young apprentice out, who then manages to find work at the studio of Sebastiano del Piombo. This move is fascinating, as Michelangelo and Sebastiano were good friends and helped each other a lot in the competitive world of High Renaissance art commissions (read more about their friendship here) – and both couldn’t stand Raphael. Then, after working at Sebastiano’s for a while (all through Sebastiano painting his previous version of La Fornarina with Margarita as the model), Pietro is thrown out yet again for spilling a paint pigment and finds himself on the street.

Pietro is happened upon by a vision of an artist: he falls in love with Raphael upon sight, and it is no surprise. Vasari wrote of him that “Nature created him as a gift to the world”. Pietro already knows Guilio Romano, a favoured pupil of Raphael, who manages to get him into the younger artist’s workshop. In the time between Pietro being offered a place at Raphael’s and making it there, he is also rescued from the streets by Margarita.

Margarita is a passionate, witty and outspoken woman who is a wonderful character in Postle’s novel. And she has a complex relationship with the artist: refusing to give in to being his mere mistress. It is interesting, and also great to see Margarita take centre stage as a character in a story rather than just a footnote in the life of a brilliant artist. Instead of being a distraction from Raphael’s art, Margarita is instead a muse for it.

What I like most is the exploration of the meaning of the findings of the 2001 x-ray of La Fornarina, when researchers found that a ruby ring on the third finger of Margarita’s left hand had been painted over. This of course called into question everything that had been supposed about Margarita and her relationship with Raphael: were they in fact secretly engaged, despite Raphael’s long engagement to Cardinal Bibbiena’s niece, with whom he was in fact entombed with in the Pantheon? It’s such an interesting historical mystery.

Pietro is an interesting narrator, full of his own demons as a young man in Renaissance Rome, jealous of Margarita’s relationship with Raphael, but also observing the happiness they find in each other. Through Pietro, we are also given an insight into the politics and personalities of High Renaissance Rome, as well as the creation of some of the most famous pieces in Western Art.

Postle creates an immersive world that I absolutely devoured, wanting to hear more about the art, the commissions, the Vatican and most of all, the woman in the painting. It’s a read I’d definitely recommend to anyone who likes art historical fiction!

The Woman in the Painting, Kerry Postle

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Well, I was so sure I'd love this book, but after restarting several times I've given up. It doesn't say romance in the genre, but the blurb certainly promises a star crossed lovers theme, a kind of Romeo and Juliet affair, but at 40% we've still only met Margarita a handful of times.
Maybe its just my expectations that are wrong, but I assumed a romance would be developing here but so far its nothing but Raphael's lust at first sight, Pietro's adoration of Raphael, and Margarita busy with her everyday life, not interested in the painter or being painted.
I love art and did enjoy the descriptions of the paintings and processes, but they were pretty brief. I love historical reads but I just didn't feel “there”, back into the 1500s. It could have been any time period, apart from a few brief exceptions. I wanted to feel the richness of Rome, the lushness of clothes, the contrast between poverty and riches that was so prevalent then ( and now I guess...). I did get irritated at how everyone except Raphael was corrupt. I know it happened then and now, but surely there were some good folk? Raphael came off as a bit too good to be true while everyone else was irredeemably bad.

Stars: Two. A book I wanted so much to love but which just didn't work for me. As ever that's a personal issue, others will and do love it.

Arc via netgalley and publishers

There are different versions of the role Margarita Luti, the daughter of a baker, may have played in the life of the painter Raphael. Giorgio Vasari, who wrote the first treaty of history of art in the 1560s, vilified her as the reason Raphael died, having caused his excesses of the flesh. There have been other versions of history that depicted her as a muse for Raphael, and the love of his life.
The latter is the version of the story this book builds upon. We meet Margarita as she models for Sebastiano del Piombo, for his 1512 painting of La Fornarina. In the atelier of Sebastiano works the central character of the book, Pietro. After an argument with Sebastiano, Pietro finds himself jobless, meets Margarita and finds himself employed by Raphael. He arranges the meeting of Raphael with Margarita, from which results not only the love between them but also their secret marriage. Margarita Luti will be the subject of two paintings by Raphael, the beautiful Donna Velata (1514) and La Fornarina (painted in 1520 shortly before his death).
The set for this book takes us to the roman life in these times. In particular, how politics, money, religion, morals and art found themselves tied together on many occasions. Also, we discover the buzz in the workshop of Raphael. He had a very large workshop with many apprentices who worked with him, grinding colours, drawing, painting. Some of his apprentices were masters themselves, as was Giulio Romano, one of the characters in the book. Raphael worked a lot and the story gives us a taste for what his life would have been, trying to honour all the requests, managing all the apprentices, training them by visiting various places of architectural, historical and artistic interest.
The central character of the book is Pietro, an apprentice of Raphael. The book is quite slow and the reader sometimes feels impatient to understand where the story is going. But the pace of the book is there to take the time to let Pietro express his feelings, his attraction for men and his deep love for Raphael, as well as, at the crossroads of the whole story, his contradicting feelings of affection and jealousy for Margarita. The slow story lets him get caught in his own feelings, deceive and breach the trust of those he loves most, and feel the guilt for his actions. And he asks himself: What choice did I have ? Although he realises too late the consequences of his actions he still has a choice to do the right thing for Raphael and Margarita. Pietro is a mess of feelings, good deeds and bad deeds and the book distills slowly the story of the role he plays.
I enjoyed the book and it gave me interest in finding a bit more about Raphael and what was happening in these times in Italy. The characters are interesting. And it is very nicely written.

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ Digital and the author Kerry Postle for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "The Woman in the Painting".

#TheWomaninthePainting #NetGalley

I confess I knew nothing about Raphael the painter from 1500s Rome. Because I don’t know how much of this book is based on truth, I’m still not sure I know much about him. However, this was an interesting story non-the-less. Told from the perspective of one of his apprentices, it is a tale of talent, love, corruption and excesses that I’m sure are quite typical of the times.

After reading the previous by Kerry Postle, I was really looking forward to reading this one and I can happily say, I was not disappointed. It was a little slow-paced for my liking, there are long-winded chapters that did carry on a little too much, which I think could have been shorter and still told the overall story, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Set in 1508; the Italian Renaissance is in full swing, artists are revered and loved by all this tells the story of maybe not as a well-known artist, but one of the very best; Raphael, a man whom people think has been touched by God himself for the beauty he creates on the canvas. When Raphael meets alluring and utterly beautiful Margarita, the daughter of a baker he is enthralled and transfixed by her, she becomes his muse and also his downfall. He may love her dearly but a mere bakers daughter isn’t good enough for the likes of the great Raphael as he is promised to another, a woman he doesn’t want but a woman who has the connections that any artist needs in this era to be able to further his career.
But will he give up the woman he loves his human heart or will his artist’s one win and he does as expected of him?
I learned so much about Italian art from this, I have read a few other stories that feature Italian artist’s from the Renaissance, so I had heard of the artist mentioned in this book. I loved this is inspired by the true love story of Raphael and Margarita, their story was one of love, passion and heartbreak. It is obvious from reading this, that this story and the history is a real love of Kerry’s, her passion for those Renaissance artists shines through, the research and attention to detail are fabulous it’s clear and vivid. But more than that, after reading this it does leave you intrigued by the artwork mentioned.
I was intrigued by the sound of this as soon as I read the back blurb, I am fascinated with this era there is something about Italian history that really pulls you in and captures the attention. This is a beautifully poignant and compelling book that will leave the reader feeling all the love of any Renaissance artist.

The year is 1508, the place is Rome, but not the Rome that we know today. This is a Rome where it is considered that gods walked amongst men. Raphael was one such god. Recognised as one of the most prolific High Renaissance painters along with his contemporaries: Michelangelo and Leonardo, Raphael was one of the greatest of all History painters. In her historical fiction novel, ‘The Woman in the Painting’ published by HQ Digital, Kerry Postle, delves into the vibrant, over-indulgent and quite often murky world of Rome and its wayward elite. Inspired by a true story, Postle introduces the reader to Pietro, a self-indulgent (and quite exasperating) artist’s apprentice who loves his boss in more ways than one. Through his eyes, the reader sees how cruel the life of a poor, low-born woman who lived at the time could be, no matter how rich or influential your friends are, and that even a man considered to be a god could not secure everything that his heart desired.

What I thought of the book

If you have an interest in Renaissance Art and would like an insight into the lives of those held in such high regard, with a good splash of romance and heart-break mixed in, then this is the novel for you. Postle’s well-written novel shows an insight into the life behind the genius and you realise that it was more than spilt paint that caused problems for the great artists of the time. Pietro, whose eyes we view events through, is a young apprentice who is saved from the depths of despair (and his violent father) by Margarita Luti, otherwise known as La Fornarina. Margarita is a beautiful baker’s daughter whose heart is as pure as her beauty and yet she is vilified falsely for causing the death of Rome’s beloved Raphael. The novel provides a bright tapestry of the often privileged lives of those associated with the workshops of the great artists at the time. However, it becomes clear that, as always, with great talent, great humility does not always go hand in hand. The reader is given an interesting insight into the cruelties of some of the artists such as Michelangelo and Sebastiano, where it seems that their personalities did not imitate the beauty and inspiration of their art.

This novel contains a host of celebrities of the age and you will be intrigued by their behaviour and willingness to try and destroy each other’s reputations. Alongside that, you have a mixture of characters sculpted in to the novel who range from the quite lewd but loyal apprentice, Giulio, to the despicable Cardinal Bibbiena, who is almost like a cartoon caricature of an evil villain. He is only interested in what he can take for himself, no matter what the cost is to others. You’ll experience a range of emotions as you read. You’ll feel warmth towards the prized Raphael who, unusually for such a feted artist, takes care of his workers, while (if you’re like me) feel contempt and dislike towards those who are against Margarita from the start, even her precious Pietro, who betrays her in the most terrible ways and for the most selfish of reasons. Although you want to scream at the characters throughout parts of the book due to the injustices they cause, Postle captures the spirit and the inequality of the age brilliantly in this oil painting of Renaissance life.

Told by his apprentice Pietro, this is the story of Raphael. If you only vaguely recall him from school, now is the time to revisit his work because this story of his life and love is wonderful. Raphael falls in love with Margarita, a baker's daughter but he can't marry her- he's got to marry up to secure his place in the art world, which was so political at the time. Pietro is a selfish man but to be fair, his position and livelihood is totally tied to Raphael's. He starts out as an advocate and then becomes hateful, especially toward Margarita. Yes, she was Raphael's muse but she was also his lover. It's hard to describe how much I enjoyed this- it's got wonderful detail and atmospherics. AND, I learned something (I found myself researching others who make appearances in the novel). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of historical fiction.

Inspired by true events, this novel follows the story of an artist apprentice. I liked the slow unfolding of the story that kept you guessing, and seeing the rippling consequences of decisions made. I’d recommend for those who enjoy historical fiction, art, or character driven novels. *Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader copy!*

CHARACTER DRIVEN HISTORICAL FICTION

Renaissance Italy produced many great artist, but three are regarded as the greatest - Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Now, the first two might sound more familiar to you, probably because of some of their more well known works. Raphael, however, has been sort of left out. This book sets out to right that wrong by telling the story of Raphaels genius as well as his life - two highly interesting and important subjects to study.

👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍

Raphael: The crowning jewel of this book is definitely the main subject, Raphael. I was familiar with his name but, sadly, lille more than that before reading this book. I was unaware of just how much he was revered in his own time, that he was a contemporary of Michelangelo or that his life was so tumultuous. After finishing this I Googled Raphael and his paintings out of sheer curiosity, this this book certainly woke something in me.

Margarita: If you like headstrong and courageous female characters who know their own worth, then you are going to love Margarite. Right from the start she shows herself to be strong willed and unwilling to gie up any part of herself to someone she deems unworthy. Not money, not her father, nothing - except love - can make her compromise anything. She was noteworthy and likable character.

Pietro: Margarite was likable. Pietro was definitely not. He is selfish, self-centeret and jealous. Which is exactly why I enjoyed reading this story told by him. While this is the story of Raphael and Margarita it is narrated by Pietro, one of Raphael's apprentices. Pietro is jealous of their relationship and is colours all his actions. He is a stark contrast to the goodness of Margarite and Raphael and that was what made him interesting.

👎 WHAT I DISLIKED 👎

Pace: This is, in many ways, a character driven book. Which is just fine. I just wished the plot has moved a long at a bit faster pace. Especially the beginning felt drawn out. Nothing much really happened in the first 3rd of the book. After that it picked up but, ultimately, just not enough for me.

Plot: Yes, the overall plot of this book was good - star crossed lovers fall in love but doesn't see that their love hurts someone close to them. But because of the slow pace and the length of this book, the plot jut wasn't fleshed out enough. It felt circular. It kept coming back to the same themes, the same doubts, the same desires over and over again in new packaging. A bit more meat on the plot bone would have made taken this book from three to four stars in my opinion.

ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

In the historic and prominent trinity formed during the High Renaissance by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, I think that Raphael is the least well known out of the three great masters with most people. This is why I'm so happy that he was featured in The Woman in the Painting. Not only do I love reading about famous painters from the past but I also have a big weakness from reading books that are set during the Renaissance. The story and characters were fictionalized for this novel but it is inspired by a true story. And Kerry Postle wrote this all so beautifully.

I've already mentioned that this book features the artist Raphael but the story is told through the eyes of one of his apprentices named Pietro (although the story starts before he is actually an apprentice in Raphael's workshop). This is something I enjoyed very much because it gives a different perspective than you'd normally get. It also isn't just a book about Raphael's life or his art seen through the eyes of someone working with him. It's also very much a love story, albeit a tragic one.

I know not a lot of readers will actually like Pietro. Maybe at the start they will but as the story goes on he does a lot of things that are for his own gain because of his feelings for Raphael and the jealousy he feels when the maestro he admires so much meets the love of his life, Margarita Luti, who turns out to be "just" a baker's daughter. I don't want to give too much away, at least not any more than I already did, about Pietro and everything happening in the story so it's pretty hard to describe him as a character but likeable he definitely wasn't. But there were times where I did feel a certain sympathy for him. I actually didn't mind his rather objectionable character that much because I thought it made things all the more interesting, if that makes even sense. And I do like reading about characters that are flawed like that. In the end, though, he does do the right thing which made me glad for sure.

The start of the book may have been a bit slow for me. It took me a few chapters to really get into the whole vibe of the story and characters but once I did I was thoroughly and completely hooked. I've read two books by this author before and Kerry Postle has this way of writing that's unique to any other auhor I've read before. It makes me feel as if I'm inside the story experiencing everything and it was definitely no different with The Woman in the Painting. I felt myself being transported inside the book to Renaissance Italy, I loved that. And also, this is now my favorite book of hers. I think it's already obvious that I highly enjoyed this story but I also really want to say that I truly loved it.

Five hundred years ago, there was an embarrassment of riches in Italy with artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Sebastiano Luciani, Raphael and Michelangelo all striving for artistic merit and success within the confines of Rome during the sixteenth century. Margarita Luti, despite being of lowly status, is a headstrong woman who knows that her virtue is her greatest quality or asset and it is her virtue as a woman in a patriarchal society that is fought over, questioned and ultimately denigrated.

According to the premise of this novel, a love story may have developed between the artist Raphael and Margarita, the baker's daughter who became his muse and even today is written about as one of Raphael’s many mistresses. The author has written a tale that is strongly rooted in truth and yet is also a fantasy of what might have been. It is beautiful and takes the reader into the world of an Italy well defined by its strata of status and the world of the artists of the day.

This story is told from the point of view of Pietro, a questionable character throughout the course of the novel who even in his redemption isn’t true, honourably redeemed. He is an unloved son of a higher status family who is unsuccessfully apprenticed to different artists until his luck changes and Raphael takes him on in his own studio. Pietro has his own demons to bear, falling in love with Raphael, but his behaviour, his duplicity in his behaviour towards Margarita is sickening and thoroughly unnerving.

Beautifully written, it helps reveal the magic and wonder of the period when artists were demi-gods and society upheld the worthiness of the artistic endeavours. It takes the reader into a world in which now days could never exist and makes it real, vital and knowable. It requires concentration from the reader to enter this world, but it worth the time and effort.