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Botticelli's Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A true historical “detective story” full of insight about how we look at art―and the artists and eras that produced it
Some five hundred years ago, Sandro Botticelli, a painter of humble origin, created work of unearthly beauty. An intimate associate of Florence’s unofficial rulers, the Medici, he was commissioned by a member of their family to execute a near-impossible project: to illustrate all one hundred cantos of The Divine Comedy by the city’s greatest poet, Dante Alighieri.
A powerful encounter between poet and artist, sacred and secular, earthly and evanescent, these drawings produced a wealth of stunning images but were never finished. Botticelli declined into poverty and obscurity, and his illustrations went missing for four hundred years.
The nineteenth-century rediscovery of Botticelli’s Dante drawings brought scholars to their knees: this work embodied everything the Renaissance had come to mean. Today, Botticelli’s Primavera adorns household objects of every kind.
This book is essential to explain not only how and why this artist became iconic but why we still need his work―and the spirit of the Renaissance―today.
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"This was a great history lesson. One that I never received during either of my art degrees at university. The author is very thorough and has added many interesting intriguing facts that have not been usually associated with Botticelli or Donte for that matter. The insight into how all of this came together Was even better explained than any other history I have read. The story was slightly dragged out and a bit of repetition, but still caught one’s interest to learn more facts about the times, and the paintings and the artists. The explanation of how the renaissance came about, was also a slightly different version of the usual. All in all a great lesson and read. "
— Ani (5 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Brilliantly sets the operatic stage of vibrant, violent Renaissance Florence and brings to life the characters who helped resurrect Botticelli.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“Replete with unexpected twists and dangling threads…a story about the force of art to shape lives.”
— Harper’s -
“[Luzzi] reads Botticelli’s drawings as ‘a “poem” in their own regard’ and as a crucial link in the ‘mapping of the human spirit’s transition’ from one era to the next."
— New Yorker -
“Anyone who wants a short dramatic book about Renaissance Florence should reach for this title first…a vivid portrait of culture, politics, and daily life in the city that has become the very image of Renaissance history.”
— New York Journal of Books -
“Transferred to a Nazi bunker in the waning days of WWII, the drawings narrowly avoided a fire that destroyed hundreds of priceless artworks. Richly detailed and fluidly written, this is a master class in art history.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Brilliantly conceived and executed, Botticelli’s Secret is a riveting search for buried treasure.”
— Stephen Greenblatt, New York Times bestselling author -
“Presents a compelling brief…of coming face-to-face with transcendent human endeavor.”
— Ingrid Rowland, coauthor of The Collector of Lives -
“I would recommend Botticelli’s Secret to anyone who loves art, who enjoys good storytelling, and who is interested in how the human spirit rediscovered itself.”
— Jay Parini, author of Borges and Me -
“Full of intimate and personal insights into the masters and masterpieces of Renaissance Italy and told with his unique blend of scholarship and superb storytelling."
— Ross King, author of Leonardo and the Last Supper
Awards
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A New Yorker Best Books of the Year Pick
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A London Guardian Pick of the Day
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A #1 Amazon bestseller in Audio in Art History
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An Amazon.com bestseller in Italian History
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An Audible.com bestseller
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About Joseph Luzzi
Joseph Luzzi, the author of five books, is the Asher B. Edelman Professor of Literature at Bard College and an award-winning writer, teacher, and scholar of Italian culture.
About Keith Szarabajka
Keith Szarabajka has appeared in many films, including The Dark Knight, Missing, and A Perfect World, and on such television shows as The Equalizer, Angel, Cold Case, Golden Years, and Profit. Szarabajka has also appeared in several episodes of Selected Shorts for National Public Radio. He won the 2001 Audie Award for Unabridged Fiction for his reading of Tom Robbins’s Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates and has won several Earphones Awards.