King - Mad Enchantment

LEONARDO AND THE LAST SUPPER

After a decade at the court of Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan, Leonardo was at a low point: at forty-three, he had failed, despite a number of prestigious commissions, to complete anything that truly fulfilled his astonishing promise. Amid war and the political and religious turmoil around him, and beset by his own insecurities and frustrations, Leonardo created the masterpiece that would forever define himThe Last Supper. Ross King unveils dozens of stories that are embedded in the painting, and overturns many of the myths surrounding it. Bringing to life a fascinating period in European history, he presents an original portrait of one of historys greatest geniuses through the lens of his most famous work.

Quickly dispenses with the outlandish myths spread by The Da Vinci Code... history is in many ways more surprising than Dan Browns popular fiction. New York Post

[A] dramatic, vivid, and brainy mix of biography and art history. Booklist (starred review)

THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS: THE REVOLUTIONARY DECADE THAT GAVE THE WORLD IMPRESSIONISM

While the Civil War raged in America, another revolution took shape across the Atlantic, in the studios of Paris: The artists who would make Impressionism the most popular art form in history were showing their first paintings amidst scorn and derision from the French artistic establishment. Indeed, no artistic movement has ever been quite so controversial. The drama of its birth, played out on canvas and against the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune, would at times resemble a battlefield; and as Ross King reveals, it would reorder both history and culture, and resonate around the world.

A well-known story, but one seldom recounted in such vivid detail, or with such a novelistic sense of plot and character. Diane Johnson, The New York Times Book Review

Riveting... So thorough is Kings grasp of the Second Empires cultural politics, so ironic his wit and choice of detail, that his text remains a page-turner throughout. Los Angeles Times

MICHELANGELO AND THE POPES CEILING

Michelangelo and the Popes Ceiling recounts the fascinating story of the four extraordinary years the artist spent laboring over the twelve thousand square feet of the vast ceiling, while war and the power politics and personal rivalries that abounded in Rome swirled around him. A panorama of illustrious figures intersected during this timethe brilliant young painter Raphael, with whom Michelangelo formed a rivalry; the fiery preacher Girolamo Savonarola and the great Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus; a youthful Martin Luther, who made his only trip to Rome at this time and was disgusted by the corruption all around him. Ross King blends these figures into a magnificent tapestry of day-to-day life on the ingenious Sistine scaffolding and outside in the upheaval of early-sixteenth-century Italy, while also offering uncommon insight into the connection between art and history.

A legend-busting, richly detailed account of the four-year making of the Sistine Chapel frescos. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

This amazing book transports the listener back to Italy in the early 16th century. King is able to describe the intricacies of fresco painting while also portraying the day-to-day life of that era... Highly recommended. Library Journal

BRUNELLESCHIS DOME: HOW A RENAISSANCE GENIUS REINVENTED ARCHITECTURE

Brunelleschis Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. This drama was played out amid plagues, wars, political feuds, and the intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florenceevents Ross King weaves into the story to great effect, from Brunelleschis bitter ongoing rivalry with the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti to the near capture of Florence by the Duke of Milan. King also offers a wealth of fascinating detail that opens windows onto fifteenth-century life: the celebrated traditions of the brickmakers art, the daily routine of the artisans laboring hundreds of feet above the ground as the dome grew ever higher, the problems of transportation, the power of the guilds.

Ross King has a knack for explaining complicated processes in a manner that is not only lucid but downright intriguing... Fascinating. Los Angeles Times

An altogether enchanting tale.Dava Sobel, author of Longitude and Galileos Daughter

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

NONFICTION

Brunelleschis Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

Michelangelo and the Popes Ceiling

The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism

Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power

Leonardo and The Last Supper

Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven

Florence: The Paintings & Frescoes, 12501743

FICTION

Ex-Libris

Domino

In loving memory of Claire King

Bloomsbury USA

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This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published 2016

Ross King, 2016

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ISBN: 978-1-63286-012-5 (HB)

ISBN: 978-1-63286-014-9 (eBook)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

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