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Loading... Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo (edition 2016)by Stephanie Storey (Author)
Work InformationOil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo by Stephanie Storey
   No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) shazjhb | Aug 19, 2023 |  Unfortunately, it turned out to be both. Stephanie Storey knows her history, there's no doubt about it. Interesting tidbits grace scenes (making it almost worthwhile to finish in order to learn something a bit esoteric to enamor at your next dinner party), but her attempt to novelize the sensational in the vibrant, nail-biting world of 16th century Italy falls flat. The characters were stilted, the prose neophyte, and stakes shallow. When working with historical figures where people pretty much know the arc of their lives, an author has an especially difficult time convincing readers of "stakes", and when you don't have the prose or characters to match, it's boring. Another issue I had with the novel was the modernity of the characters. Speech is almost unaffected, a sort of quasi-formal dialogue that I guess is supposed to impress the readers into the 16th century, but was obviously lazy. The word "pyrotechnics" somehow got into the final draft, (which took me 3 seconds to look up was a 19th-century invention) and just illustrated to me how little Storey cared to make this more authentic than it had to be. There just didn't seem to be an attempt at making it more historically accurate than the dressed-up scenes Storey felt either was comfortable with or just enough to fool lazy readers. It reminded me of the BBC Musketeers adaptation and the like, with scenes moving to the next without much consequence, a story first and foremost without much "art" to the process of novel writing. I'd be hard-pressed to find even one theme. It's two stars because the novel had potential. It seemed incredibly accurate and wasn't head-hitting-the-wall bad, but it was just so generic it left me insulted. It felt lazy and amateurish, and I can only hope Storey writes some sort of art history non-fiction. I'd read that over a novel any day. (  ) Eavans | Feb 17, 2023 | The period covered is 1501-1505 when both artists were living in Florence. During those years Leonardo created one of the world's greatest paintings, Mona Lisa, and Michelangelo created David, one of the world's greatest sculptures. The author includes a coda that gives us basic facts about the artists after 1505 and includes notes that tell why she made the decisions she did when facts weren't available. In her notes she writes: Oil and Marble is based on twenty years of research and grounded in real history, but it is unapologetically a work of fiction. I liked this, there isn't a lot of depth, but it's a good story, one that provokes thought and possibly inspires more reading on the artists. She gave us a little teaser at the end by introducing Raphael, the subject of her second novel, I already have it on my shelf. (  ) clue | Feb 5, 2023 |  ) siri51 | Aug 8, 2022 | I enjoyed the novel and appreciated the author's note at the end indicating what some of the historical discrepancies were. ( ) kparr | Feb 1, 2020 | no reviews | add a review
Distinctions
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 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. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction--novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.84)
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