The Medici Seal PDF Download

Author: Theresa Breslin
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446452638
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
A gloriously rich and authentic story of the Renaissance, The Medici Seal is perfect for fans of The Da Vinci Code, The Borgias or Netflix hit Medici: Masters of Florence! Romagna, Italy 1502. On the run and fleeing for his life, a young boy - Matteo - is saved from drowning by mysterious men, who turn out to be companions of Leonardo da Vinci. From this moment on, Matteo's life is changed forever, and he thrills at working alongside Da Vinci as he carries out his incredible work. But Da Vinci's cruel and ruthless employer, Cesare Borgia, seems set to ruin Matteo's happines, and as Da Vinci and Matteo travel across Italy on the Borgia's business, murder, deceit and revenge follow in their trail. For Matteo carries with him a secret - a life-changing secret that both the Borgia and Medici families would kill to obtain. A secret that must, finally, come to light for all to see . . .

Author: Theresa Breslin
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0552554472
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
Tells the story of Matteo, which offers a glimpse into the world of Da Vinci. Fleeing from a murderous brigand, Matteo is saved by the companions of Leonardo da Vinci. From this moment on, Matteo is at the Maestro's side as he carries out his work, which ranges from the painting of magnificent frescos to intricate dissection of the human body.

Author: John L'Heureux
Publisher: House of Stratus
ISBN: 1938231481
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
While creating his famous bronze of David and Goliath, Donatello’s passion for his beautiful model and part time rent boy, Agnolo, ignites a dangerous jealousy that ultimately leads to murder. Luca, the complex and conflicted assistant, will sacrifice all to save Donatello, even his master’s friend--the great patron of art, Cosimo de’ Medici.

Author: Theresa Breslin
Publisher: Corgi
ISBN: 9780552557214
Category : Divination
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
When Nostradamus proclaims to the French court his prophecy of a great massacre, the young King Charles only laughs. His mother, Catherine de' Medici, pays more heed - she believes that Nostradamus can truly see the future. But the great soothsayer's prophecies are not only for those who rule; he also has a message for Melisande, the minstrel's daughter, who he believes is linked with him by Fate. And as the Angel of Death approaches, Nostradamus entrusts to her safekeeping some very special parchments - parchments that the rulers of France would do anything to see . . .

Author: Giovanni Ciappelli
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004270752
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
The family book, a kind of diary written by and about the family for its various members, was established by scholars as a genre in Italy in the 1980s. Although initially regarded as an Italian genre, the family book can also be found in other parts of Europe. Nevertheless, the genre can be traced back to Florence, where it first emerged and consequently flourished with the lavish production of such documents. This abundance springs from the social structure of the city, where such texts were essential for establishing and cultivating the basis for the social promotion of Florentine families. This book presents a reconstruction of the evolution and persistency of Tuscan family books, as well as a study of several aspects of social history, including: reading and private libraries, domestic devotion, and the memory of historical events. Starting with the Renaissance, the investigation then broadens to the 17th-18th centuries and considers other forms of memory, such as private diaries and autobiographies. A final section is dedicated to the issue of memory in the egodocuments of early modern Europe. This book was translated by Susan Amanda George.

Author: Edward L. Goldberg
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442613335
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
In the seventeenth century, Florence was the splendid capital of the Medici Grand Dukedom of Tuscany. Meanwhile, the Jews in its tiny Ghetto struggled to earn a living by any possible means, especially loan-sharking, rag-picking and second-hand dealing. They were viewed as an uncanny people with rare supernatural powers, and Benedetto Blanis—a businessman and aspiring scholar from a distinguished Ghetto dynasty—sought to parlay his alleged mastery of astrology, alchemy and Kabbalah into a grand position at the Medici Court. He won the patronage of Don Giovanni dei Medici, a scion of the ruling family, and for six tumultuous years their lives were inextricably linked. Edward Goldberg reveals the dramas of daily life behind the scenes in the Pitti Palace and in the narrow byways of the Florentine Ghetto, using thousands of new documents from the Medici Granducal Archive. He shows that truth—especially historical truth—can be stranger than fiction, when viewed through the eyes of the people most immediately involved.

Author: Ross King
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0747599475
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Milan, 1496 and forty-four-year-old Leonardo da Vinci has a reputation for taking on commissions and failing to complete them. He is in a state of professional uncertainty and financial difficulty. For eighteen months he has been painting murals in both the Sforza Castle in Milan and the refectory of the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. The latter project will become the Last Supper, a complex mural that took a full three years to complete on a surface fifteen feet high by twenty feet wide. Not only had he never attempted a painting of such size, but he had no experience whatsoever in painting in the physically demanding medium of fresco.For more than five centuries the Last Supper has been an artistic, religious and cultural icon. The art historian Kenneth Clark has called it 'the keystone of European art', and for a century after its creation it was regarded as nothing less than a miraculous image. Even today, according to Clark, we regard the painting as 'more a work of nature than a work of man'. And yet there is a very human story behind this artistic 'miracle', which was created against the backdrop of momentous events both in Milan and in the life of Leonardo himself.In Leonardo and the Last Supper, Ross King tells the complete story of this creation of this mural: the adversities suffered by the artist during its execution; the experimental techniques he employed; the models for Christ and the Apostles that he used; and the numerous personalities involved - everyone from the Leonardo's young assistants to Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan who commissioned the work. Ross King's new book is both a record of Leonardo da Vinci's last five years in Milan and a 'biography' of one of the most famous works of art ever painted.

Author: Nancy Goldstone
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316409677
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
The riveting true story of mother-and-daughter queens Catherine de' Medici and Marguerite de Valois, whose wildly divergent personalities and turbulent relationship changed the shape of their tempestuous and dangerous century. Set in magnificent Renaissance France, this is the story of two remarkable women, a mother and daughter driven into opposition by a terrible betrayal that threatened to destroy the realm. Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for thirty years. Her youngest daughter Marguerite, the glamorous "Queen Margot," was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control. When Catherine forces the Catholic Marguerite to marry her Protestant cousin Henry of Navarre against her will, and then uses her opulent Parisian wedding as a means of luring his followers to their deaths, she creates not only savage conflict within France but also a potent rival within her own family. Rich in detail and vivid prose, Goldstone's narrative unfolds as a thrilling historical epic. Treacherous court politics, poisonings, inter-national espionage, and adultery form the background to a story that includes such celebrated figures as Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Nostradamus. The Rival Queens is a dangerous tale of love, betrayal, ambition, and the true nature of courage, the echoes of which still resonate.

Author: Sophie Perinot
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1466883480
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
It's the winter of 1564 and the beautiful young Princess Margot is summoned to her mother's household, where her true education begins in earnest. Known across Europe as Madame la Serpente, Queen Catherine is an intimidating and unmoving presence in France, even as her country recovers from the first of many devastating religious wars. Among the crafty nobility of Queen Catherine's royal court, Margot learns the intriguing and unspoken rules she must live by to please her manipulative family. Eager to be an obedient daughter, Margot embraces her role as a pawn to be married off to the most convenient bidder. Despite her loyalty, Margot finds herself charmed by the powerful and charismatic Duc de Guise and falls for him even as she is promised to another. Finally setting aside her happiness for duty, Margot leaves the man she loves for Henri of Navarre, a Huguenot leader and a notorious heretic. Yet Queen Catherine's schemes are endless, and Margot's brother plots vengeance in the streets of Paris. Forced to choose between her family and what's right, Margot at last finds the strength within herself to forge her own destiny. Médicis Daughter is historical fiction at its finest, weaving a unique coming-of-age story and a forbidden love with one of the most dramatic and violent events in French history.

Author: Dorah Blume
Publisher: Juiceboxartists Press
ISBN: 099813161X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
Botticelli’s Muse peels back layers of history to tell a fictionalized version of the life of Sandro Botticelli, his conflicts with the Medici family of Florence, and the woman at the heart of his paintings. In 1477, Botticelli is suddenly fired by his prestigious patron and friend Lorenzo de’ Medici. In the villa of his irritating new patron, the artist’s creative well runs dry—until the day he sees Floriana, a Jewish weaver imprisoned in his sister’s convent. But events threaten to keep his unlikely muse out of reach. So begins a tale of one of the art world’s most beloved paintings, La Primavera, as Sandro, a confirmed bachelor, and Floriana, a headstrong artist in her own right, enter into a turbulent relationship.