Leonardo's Swans: A Novel 
asked by siriusfanboy on October 31, 2006 1:40 AM
Isabella d’Este, daughter of the Duke of Ferrara, born into privilege and the political and artistic turbulence of Renaissance Italy, is a stunning black-eyed blonde and a precocious lover and collector of art. Worldly and ambitious, she has never envied her less attractive sister, the spirited but naïve Beatrice, until, by a quirk of fate, Beatrice is betrothed to the future Duke of Milan. Although he is more than twice their age, openly lives with his mistress, and is reputedly trying to eliminate the current duke by nefarious means, Ludovico Sforza is Isabella’s match in intellect and passion for all things of beauty. Only he would allow her to fulfill her destiny: to reign over one of the world’s most powerful and enlightened realms and be immortalized in oil by the genius Leonardo da Vinci.
Though Isabella weds the Marquis of Mantua, a man she has loved since childhood, Beatrice’s fortunes rise effortlessly through her marriage to Ludovico. The two sisters compete for supremacy in the illustrious courts of Europe, and Isabella vows that she will not rest until she wrestles back her true fate and plays temptress to the sensuous Ludovico and muse to the great Leonardo. But when Ludovico’s grand plan to control Europe begins to crumble, immortality through art becomes a luxury, and the two sisters must choose between familial loyalty and survival in the treacherous political climate.
Leonardo’s Swans is an exceptionally vivid evocation of the artist during his years in the glittering court of Milan, re-creating the thrilling moments when he conceived The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. It portrays a genius ahead of his time who can rarely escape the demands of his noble patrons long enough to express his own artistic vision.
A haunting novel of rivalry, love, and betrayal that transports readers back to Renaissance Italy, Leonardo’s Swans will have you dashing to the works of the great painter—not for clues to a mystery but to contemplate the secrets of the human heart.
Though Isabella weds the Marquis of Mantua, a man she has loved since childhood, Beatrice’s fortunes rise effortlessly through her marriage to Ludovico. The two sisters compete for supremacy in the illustrious courts of Europe, and Isabella vows that she will not rest until she wrestles back her true fate and plays temptress to the sensuous Ludovico and muse to the great Leonardo. But when Ludovico’s grand plan to control Europe begins to crumble, immortality through art becomes a luxury, and the two sisters must choose between familial loyalty and survival in the treacherous political climate.
Leonardo’s Swans is an exceptionally vivid evocation of the artist during his years in the glittering court of Milan, re-creating the thrilling moments when he conceived The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. It portrays a genius ahead of his time who can rarely escape the demands of his noble patrons long enough to express his own artistic vision.
A haunting novel of rivalry, love, and betrayal that transports readers back to Renaissance Italy, Leonardo’s Swans will have you dashing to the works of the great painter—not for clues to a mystery but to contemplate the secrets of the human heart.
Reviews
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This book was recommended to me by a friend in Italy where it's a runaway bestseller and has been lauded by critics and art historians. Through the story of the brilliant Este princesses whose place in history is all but forgotten, the author manages to bring Leonardo da Vinci and the Italian Renaissance into blazing technicolor. I was fascinated to learn the circumstances under which Leonardo created The Last Supper, The Virgin of the Rocks, The Mona Lisa, and The Lady with an Ermine, and other famous paintings conceived while he was in Milan. Also, it chronicles the rise and fall of some of the gigantic personalities that made the Renaissance what it was. No mysterious codes here, just fabulous, meticulously researched historical fiction that keeps you turning pages.
reviewed by steelers on November 29, 2006 7:35 AM
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This book is beautifully written, the characters start off as very interesting and it could have been a great novel. It gets so pedantic and clunky towards the middle and so bogged down in the internal machinations of the two main characters, Beatrice and Isabelle, with their relationship, that I lost interest and just wanted the book to end. By the last third of the book, I was just scanning the paragraphs to find out what happened in the end. To someone unfamiliar with the people involved in this period of Italian history, it would be hard to follow the political maneuverings that were going on in the background. The quotable quotes from Leonard da Vinci's notebooks are tossed in here and there to add a note of historical authenticity. They don't really relate to what is going on at that point in the novel. Based on the summary on the book jacket, you expect this novel to be about the relationship between Leonardo and these two noblewomen, but that is a very minor part of the book. I thought this book would be as wonderful as other books I have read recently set in this time period, but it was dull and full of unnecessary writing. A good editor could have trimmed it by fifty pages--this would have made the book a quicker pace and cut down on a lot of needless descriptions.
reviewed by rob33 on November 29, 2006 9:28 AM