Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo

Ugh. I should have known when the phrase "egg-based tempera" showed up that I was dealing with an author who either thought her readers were idiots—or didn't know how to write.

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 show more 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. show less

I met Stephanie Storey at a lecture she gave in Winston-Salem, NC. The focus of her talk was research for historical fiction, but she also spoke about other aspects of her writing. When she was done I was impressed enough to buy Oil and Marble. And now that I've read the novel, I'm even more impressed.

This is a story about Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, set when they were both living and working in Florence. It is, in Storey's own words, “unapologetically a work of fiction.” But in my opinion, historical fiction is more accurate than straight history. Both require accuracy concerning known facts, but a good work of fiction goes a step further by capturing human emotion. And Oil and Marble isn't just good. It's wonderful.

This show more was the time when Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa and Michaelangelo chiseled his David. Leonardo was a master, older than Michaelangelo, so his reputation was established, while Michaelangelo had complete the Pieta and was trying to build on the reputation that work had brought him. Despite the fact that they were at different points in their careers, they were rivals and both experienced the crazy mix of admiration and jealousy that comes when one artist studies the work of another.

As I expected the novel was about the love of art, but there were many themes running through it. Leonardo was concerned with various aspects of his career. He was an engineer as well as an artist, so he worked on other projects. Most of those related to military threats, particularly from the neighboring city of Pisa. And he also had an interesting relationship with Lisa del Giocondo, the model for the Mona Lisa. Meanwhile, Michaelangelo was concerned about his family. He had brothers who depended on his ability to earn money and a father who wasn't happy with his choice to be a sculptor. He was constantly torn between his artistic drive and his love for his family.

In Oil and Marble the stories of Leonardo run side by side, constantly veering over to interfere with one another, but also keeping their independence. I expect that is what the real lives of these two artists were like in the sixteenth century. The book has romance, ambition, and consistent action. It's a great way to study history or to just get lost in a good story.

Steve Lindahl – author of Motherless Soul and White Horse Regressions show less

This wonderful historical novel centers on Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti during the years 1501 – 1505 when they both lived and worked in Florence, Italy. Leonardo was in his fifties and an established artist. Michelangelo was in his twenties and had just completed “The Pieta” in Rome and had returned to Florence to make a name for himself and to support his family. When Michelangelo wins the Duccio stone commission and begins his beloved “David” sculpture, Leonardo is working on “The Mona Lisa”.

The author has done a wonderful job of bringing these two art masters to life. This story about the competition between these artists is very believable and enjoyable. The author has an excellent understanding of an show more artist’s soul and the conflicts that his art creates for him as he struggles to bring forth a masterpiece. Both of these Renaissance masters produced many masterpieces in their lifetime and it was a true pleasure reading about this particular period of their lives and their interaction with each other.

I also appreciated the author’s afterward in which she explains what is actual historical fact in her book and what was imagined by her and why. This is historical fiction at its best. Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher through Edelweiss in return for an honest review. show less

GREAT premise, Mediocre execution

I picked this book out because I have an interest in Renaissance history, art, and Leonardo and Michelangelo specifically. I was intrigued by the synopsis where the author imagines how the two artists might have interacted in Florence, since there was a period of a few years when they both lived there. But I was disappointed.

The imagined story of how Leonardo and Michelangelo might have spurred each to greatness through ego and competition, ending for one with the creation of the Mona Lisa and for the other with the creation of the sculpture David, did NOT turn out to be all that interesting a novel. I never particularly cared about either man. Even the appearances of Cesare Borgia, Machiavelli, and show more Botticelli (other contemporaries) did not add much to the narrative. Despite valiant effort, the author never did capture the essence of either artist. I kept reading to see if I became more interested and it does pick up a bit nearer the end. But overall, not worth the effort. show less

This is a novel about the great artists Leonardo and Michelangelo. The author tells her story using historical sources when they are available, and using her own imagination when they are not. The relationship between the artists, which isn't known, is the base of the story.

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 show more 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. show less

A well told, well researched story of what may have occurred in Florence at the time that both Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci lived there and worked on some of their most famous works.
I enjoyed the novel and appreciated the author's note at the end indicating what some of the historical discrepancies were.

The novel is the author's take on two very important characters in history, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti. Both men traveled in the same time/area: Florence, Italy in 1500. Both men were in competition with each other for commissions for artistic projects. Storey masterfully creates a very interesting (and plausible) story of the interactions. Specifically (without spoiling the book for you), how the competition/ego/pride drove each man to create the Mona Lisa and the sculpture of David. She manages to do this so well that you actually feel like you are there in a room with the characters. You sense their pain as they strive to be their best. Along the way she introduces other characters who were in the same orbit of show more time/place (such as Niccolò Machiavelli). It all weaves together wonderfully, resulting in an excellent read! show less