Leonardo: A Biographical Novel

This compelling novel takes the reader into the tumultuous period of the Renaissance and the origins of Leonardo da Vinci, the bastard child of a notary. Of da Vinci, the eminent art historian Kenneth Clark wrote, "no more complex and mysterious character ever existed than this Hamlet of art history [...]
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This compelling novel takes the reader into the tumultuous period of the Renaissance and the origins of Leonardo da Vinci, the bastard child of a notary. Of da Vinci, the eminent art historian Kenneth Clark wrote, "no more complex and mysterious character ever existed than this Hamlet of art history." Clark noted that one had to be "familiar with all of Leonardo's writings in their chronological order (and) the state of learning in the Renaissance to judge Leonardo's progress in relation to that of his contemporaries." Curtis Bill Pepper has risen to that challenge after fifteen years of research in Italy unearthing archival records that point to the identity of Leonardo's mother, a Circassian slave, and shed light on the various individuals who played important roles in the development of his character and intellect. The author places Leonardo in the context of the Medici, Sforza, and French dynasties, the politics of rival city-states, incessant internal wars and foreign invasions, theological disputes among religious orders, and corrupt, power-driven papacies that characterized the era. The end result of Pepper's efforts does not in any way supplant many formidable biographies, or invaluable research by Leonardo specialists. It goes beyond them in seeking to portray the physical reality and psychic conflicts within this obsessively driven human being a relatively unknown aspect of the artist that has generally eluded historians.