In her brilliant debut, Storey brings early 16th-century Florence alive, entering with extraordinary empathy into the minds and souls of two Renaissance masters, creating a stunning art history thriller. From 1501 to 1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti both lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome fifty year-old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a … a temperamental sculptor in his mid-twenties, desperate to make a name for himself.
Michelangelo is a virtual unknown when he returns to Florence and wins the commission to carve what will become one of the most famous sculptures of all time: David. Even though his impoverished family shuns him for being an artist, he is desperate to support them. Living at the foot of his misshapen block of marble, Michelangelo struggles until the stone finally begins to speak. Working against an impossible deadline, he begins his feverish carving.
Meanwhile, Leonardo’s life is falling apart: he loses the hoped-for David commission; he can’t seem to finish any project; he is obsessed with his ungainly flying machine; he almost dies in war; his engineering designs disastrously fail; and he is haunted by a woman he has seen in the market–a merchant’s wife, whom he is finally commissioned to paint. Her name is Lisa, and she becomes his muse.
Leonardo despises Michelangelo for his youth and lack of sophistication. Michelangelo both loathes and worships Leonardo’s genius.
Oil and Marble is the story of their nearly forgotten rivalry.
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This is an streamlined version of the greater work on Michelangelo career (I cannot remember that author). The older and more robust book is much better. this book is like Cliff Notes version.
Fascinating story.
Well crafted story weaving lives of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The
personalities of characters make them seem real and alive. Details of the story are
beautifully written. Yet story is easy to read.
4.5. I really enjoyed this. Storey does an amazing job of describing seemingly indescribable visual works of art with words. I was surprised at how much suspense I felt waiting for the public’s reaction to Michelangelo’s David. Was it recognized as a masterpiece AT THE TIME? According to this, yes. Now I have to go look up how much Storey invented. They’re totally different mediums, but as a literary artist, I really enjoy reading about painters and sculptors and can relate to many of their struggles. I did feel there was too much Italian thrown in, and the audiobook narrator’s fake accent didn’t help. I listened for free as part of Audible’s Plus Catalog, and I’m very glad I did.
Loved it! Great historical drama between two famous artists who lived in Florence at the same time and could have been rivals.
Good insight on the relationship between Leonardo and Michelangelo
Book brought characters to life for me. Great read after experiencing Rome and Florence on vacation. I wish I had read it before.
If you like art, you’ll enjoy this one
This book is about two great artists, Michelangelo and Leonardo DaVinci and their rivalry while they both worked in Florence. Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa at the same time as Michelangelo completed his sculpture, David. The book is interesting as it contrasted the two artists and shows what life was like at this period of time in Florence.
Thoughtful and intelligent. Great characters, and interesting plot to keep you intrigued.
This novel wasn’t necessarily historically accurate, but presented some interesting insights as to the period and the two artists, DaVinci and Michaelangelo.
Oil and Marble is a captivating read. In 1505 two of the greatest artists ever to create lived for a time in Renaissance Florence, Italy. Oil and Marble stages that world and supposes the ultimate competition of artist titans between Leonardo and Michelangelo. Leonardo, the acclaimed Maestro of Vinci, is fifty years old and a venerated master who has recently returned to Florence, having fled Milan after the French invasion. Michelangelo Buonarotti, twenty-four, is just returned from Rome, where he has completed his first masterpiece, the Pieta. The prize they both seek, although Michelangelo more passionately, is to be the one to carve the Duccio Stone, the most famous piece of quarried Marble in the world, into a sculptural masterpiece. It is a commission from the Operai that will bring lasting fame to the artist and will represent the Republic of Florence to the world.
Leonardo has been promised the commission, and Michelangelo craves it. It is against this background that Stephanie Storey brings both artists to life. She creatively fills in their personalities and gives substance to their emotional life. We all know that Michelangelo eventually wins the commission and creatives his David. Due to his inquisitive mind, Leonardo, who is pulled in all directions, is famous for not finishing paintings or sculptures. But the competition with the rising genius of Michelangelo forces Leonardo to finds focus and inspiration from Michelangelo’s obsessiveness. The result is Leonardo creates his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa.
This is the story of the creation of two of the most iconic works of art ever created.
One of the best I have read! Two giants of the renaissance and their lives!
This and its companion, Rafael: Painter in Rome, are terrific, perhaps limited to those who love Renaissance art the great artists of the period.
I was drawn to the novel because of its fascinating subject matter–the lives of the legendary artists and their most defining work, namely Michelangelo and his David and Leonard Da Vinci and Mona Lisa. For about five minutes in college I was an art history major, which was long enough to take advantage of a class trip to Paris (during which I actually visited Da Vinci’s tomb). This background heightened my appreciation for this book. At its heart, it’s a story about creativity, artists, their work and temperaments. Even though these men are household names today, in their time they were still just men, hampered by the same doubts and fears as the rest of us. I found that I related to both historical artists in their ambition to put work above everything else, even health, the necessary belief in oneself contrasted with crippling self-doubt, the rather mysterious drive to create. I found myself weeping at several points in this book. Phenomenal.
Everything is in twos in this page-turning historical fiction novel. Two geniuses (one at the beginning of his career, one at the end), two masterpieces, two Florentine patriots, two economic situations (one rich, one poor)—above all, two candidates for the status of supreme artist of Florence. Storey ingeniously zeros in on the well-known rivalry between Leonardo and DaVinci through the lens of their simultaneously created best-known and loved works–the David and the Mona Lisa–and how their development plays out against the canvas of their animosity and grudging admiration. In doing so we have real characters breathing through the pages that are at turns loveable, pathetic, whiney, vain and, above all relatable. I am an admirer of the artists and widely read on both, yet this novel brought new insight to what I did know and wonderful new detail I did not. Now, I love both of them even more.
I am not a fan of history, but the author brought to life the famous Leonardo and Michelangelo. It was a mix of historical fact and the author’s imagination which made these men so real that I felt like I knew them. I have to smile now when I see the Mona Lisa!
Fun history of art in 16th Century Italy. I learned a lot about the art and artists.
Great history of two artists written in a way to make it readable.
Nicely done with a narrative that could actually been the real story