Renaissance

I read The Birth of Venus which takes place in Florence during the Renaissance and mentions many of the paintings in the various churches there. The heroine of the book has an affair with Botticelli.

The renaissance is one of my favorite periods in art. Do you know other books that take place in this time?

You might be interested in The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland about the famous Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi. I really enjoyed it (and actually sought out The Birth of Venus because of it!).

You might try The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone about Michelangelo, but it's quite long. I read it in high school and remember parts of it dragging.

A few young adult novels about Renaissance artists that I've enjoyed are
The Second Mrs. Gioconda by E.L. Konigsburg (about Leonardo da Vinci and one of his apprentices)

Leonardo's Shadow by Christopher Grey (mostly deals with The Last Supper)

and I am Rembrandt's Daughter by Lynn Cullen

I haven't read these yet, but you might be interested in:
The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato - a puzzle thriller involving Botticelli.

I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis (I've read some of her other work and enjoy her writing style, though it can tend to the soap operatic)

Thanks for the suggestions. I do have The Passion of Artemisia so I'll move it up in the to be read stack. I'm going to look for the others, particularly The Botticelli Secret as I also like thrillers.