The Painted Room
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A captivating experimental novel about the Italian Renaissance by the Danish master, whose “sensuous language resonates with cosmic urgency” (Columbia Review).
The Painted Room is a magnificent three-part short novel about the Italian Renaissance, and, specifically, the intrigue surrounding the frescoes that Mategna (1431-1506) made on the walls of a famous bridal chamber in the ducal palace of Lodovico III Gonzaga. Prince Lodovico of Mantua invites Mantegna to his palace to decorate the chamber, and the paintings are slowly completed. The painting of the duke and his family looks so peaceful—you would never guess that a murder had just taken place.The prince's secretary records its progress in his gossip-laden diary, while the story of the prince's daughter, the dwarf Nana, digs deeper into darker motivations, involving deceit, vendettas, an assassination, and the dalliances of Pope Pius II. Mantegna’s young son, Bernardino, helps complete the paintings and introduces a note of high fantasy into the narrative. What results is a beautiful yet startling picture of the Renaissance, as rich and colorful as the men and women depicted on the palace walls.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This daring and delightful historical novel from Christensen (Azorno) boldly reimagines day-to-day life within the Gonzaga palace in Renaissance Italy. The focus is on the small details and soap-opera intrigues within the palace, which are as intricate as the detail in the frescoes by Andrea Mantegna that adorn the walls: "There is more life in the paintings than in all of these lively and rapturous spectators who simply put on airs because they are afraid of the pictures' souls which is their own." Among the deliciously surprising cast of characters is Prince Lodovico, Mantegna's patron, who keeps a secret lover locked away in a garden, and his daughter Nana, a dwarf, who falls into a complicated and possibly miraculous marriage with Piero, Pope Pius II's illegitimate unclaimed son. There's also Marsilio, the royal secretary, whose diary makes up the first section of the novel, and whose love for Mantegna's wife threatens to interfere with his duties and loyalties; and Bernadino, Mantegna's young son, who imagines a life for himself within the vast and mysterious realms of his father's paintings. Christensen, who died in 2009, casts her strange visions with stunning clarity. It's as much a worthy introduction to the author as a treat for her fans.
