The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day

The Mona Lisa Vanishes tells the story of the most remarkable art heist in the early twentieth century.

The story begins first, long ago in Florence in 1503 with the portrait of a young wife and mother, Lisa Gherardini by Leonardo da Vinci, who named the painting Mona Lisa. Five hundred years later, in Paris, France on Monday August 21, 1911 a man who has hidden all night in the Louvre would pull off the heist of the century. He had come to the vast museum on Sunday like any other visitor but when the museum was closing he didn't leave. Instead, he hid himself in closet among the easels and paint boxes. 

He knew it was possible to hide in the Louvre because a few months earlier, a French journalist who believed the Louvre's security was lacking hid himself overnight in the sarcophagus of an Egyptian king. He then published his experience.

The storage closet the thief had hidden in overnight was near the Salon Carre where the most valuable artworks like those from Titian, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci were displayed.  The man emerged from the closet wearing a white smock similar to that of the Louvre maintenance workers. The paintings in the Louvre were not locked down because it was assumed no one would dare steal them. However, they were hung in a specific way that required some knowledge as to how to remove them. The thief had this knowledge and quickly removed the painting from the Salon Carre and slipped into the stairwell. There he removed the Mona Lisa from its antique frame and glass covering. Unlike most paintings, the Mona Lisa was painted on three slabs of wood joined together and it was heavy. To hide it, the thief placed the Mona Lisa under his white smock. After struggling to get out of the stairwell's locked door, he escaped into the Paris morning, taking the Mona Lisa and the doorknob.

At first no one realized the Mona Lisa had been stolen. It was considered inconceivable that anyone would attempt this. The workmen who had walked through the Salon Carre only an hour earlier that Monday morning, now saw a blank space on the wall. But they believed the Mona Lisa couldn't be stolen so they did nothing. Even on Tuesday morning when Brigadier Maximilien Alphonse Paupardin, the guard in charge of the Salon Carre, noticed the Mona Lisa missing, he assumed not that it had been stolen, but that the Louvre photographers had it. At this time, the Louvre was photographing its collection and the photographers often removed and returned paintings without telling anyone.

Louis Beroud, a painter who enjoyed painting the copyists as they worked in the Louvre, would be the man who discovered the Mona Lisa was missing. Beroud arrived at the Louvre with the intention of painting a girl working at the Mona Lisa. He was told by Brigadier Paupardin that the painting was being photographed. However, when the painting didn't show up, Beroud became impatient and asked Paupardin to find out when the Mona Lisa would return to the Salon Carre. But when Paupardin spoke to the photographers in the Louvre studio, they were puzzled and did not know what he was talking about.

With Theophile Homolle, the director of the Louvre in Mexico, a panicked Paupardin informed the curator of Egyptian antiquities, Georges Benedite. However, Benedite believed the Mona Lisa was simply somewhere in the Louvre. A search did not find the painting and Georges Benedite was forced to call in the Paris police. Soon all of Paris knew the Mona Lisa was gone. What was the heist of the century would capture the attention of Parisians, French citizens and the world for months and remain unsolved for two years.

Discussion

The Mona Lisa Vanishes is "...a story about how a strange, small portrait became the most famous painting in history...about a shocking theft and a bizarre recovery." But as Nicholas Day aptly demonstrates, "...it is also the story of another way of looking at the world --clearly, plainly, without assumptions or expectations."  - the way the painting's creator, Leonardo da Vinci did. This is in contrast to the way the French police viewed their world, and therefore how they investigated the theft of the Mona Lisa.

After introducing the theft of the Mona Lisa, Day takes his readers back into the past, to the story of how the Mona Lisa came to be painted. It is a story that begins with Leonardo da Vinci, born at the height of the Renaissance in 1452, in Vinci. Leonardo is sent to apprentice with Andrea del Verrocchio, a Florentine painter and sculptor whom he soon surpasses in ability. His angel in the painting, The Baptism of Christ was so sublime that Verrocchio quit painting. Leonardo develops a new technique called sfumato in which the artist blends objects and people rather than outlining them in paintings. Unfortunately, Leonardo is often unable to finish works he is commissioned. He eventually would receive the commission to paint Lisa Gherardini, the wife of  Francesco Del Giocondo, a successful silk merchant and trader. His problem is that Leonardo is not just a painter but an observer of the world.

From entries in his notebooks, it is evident that he is obsessed with the world around him. His mind is on fire with questions and the quest to find answers through observation and study. This information is not necessary for his art, but this mindset means it is almost impossible to finish the commissions he receives, including the Mona Lisa. However, "...it means he sees the world without being blinded by what he thinks it is already going to be. He doesn't have assumptions about what something is or what it means. He doesn't leap to conclusions. His highest values are observations and experience..." As Day aptly demonstrates, this is in marked contrast to the way the Paris police proceed in their attempt to recover the Mona Lisa.

Interwoven with the story of Leonardo, his life and his painting, is the story of the Paris police's inability to solve the theft and recover  the Mona Lisa. Solving crimes is new to police work in the early twentieth century. Louis Lepine, head of the Paris police had begun standardizing police procedures. Helping him was Alphonse Bertillon, a pioneer in the new field of forensics. Bertillon, a temperamental man, had developed a method of identifying someone using body measurements - known as anthropometry. His system, used throughout the world, was difficult to implement consistently. A newer technique of fingerprinting to identify a person was just coming into practice. Bertillon had two important leads in the Mona Lisa heist: a fingerprint lifted from the glass pane of the painting, and the knowledge that the thief likely worked in the Louvre.

However, unlike Leonardo da Vinci, Lepine and Bertillon did not have an open mind, instead working on assumptions. "It was the opposite of observation, the opposite of how Leonardo would have wanted the Mona Lisa theft investigated. Unlike Leonardo, Bertillon and Lepine didn't start with the world. They started with what they assumed the world to be." Lepine assumed that because the crime was not a bloody, violent one, it meant that the heist was the work of a "superior class of thief." Lepine was looking for either a professional gang or a consummate professional thief like Adam Worth. One theory held that a rich American had paid a professional thief to steal the Mona Lisa. In 1911, many Americans who had made their wealth during the Guilded Age were eager to showcase that new wealth and to do so they purchased the art of famous painters from Europe.  It was because they worked from assumptions and theories like this, rather than observations, that Lepine and Bertillon were unable to solve the heist.

The Mona Lisa Vanishes is not just a story about the theft of the Mona Lisa, but a biography of the the great Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci. Day also explores the world of the high Renaissance, while contrasting it with society and the art world in the early twentieth century. Readers will also learn how the Mona Lisa heist changed the public's perception of art and artists .Day's account is informative and definitely engaging, as he weaves his narrative back and forth between Leonardo's life leading to the painting of the Mona Lisa and the desperate attempts to solve the heist in the twentieth century. 

There are black and white oil on paper illustrations that will appeal to younger readers. However, inclusion of photographs, for example the Mona Lisa and the Louvre, of Pablo Picasso, Alphonse Bertillon and Vincenzo Peruggia would have added significantly to Day's telling. Other times, an image of a painting being discussed would have been very helpful. For example, Day writes about Pablo Picasso's painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and how this painting changed art, beginning a new movement in modern art. Without an image to consider, readers are left to imagine what Day is explaining, or to use Google. A map of Italy and France, showing the location of Florence and the Louvre would also have been useful.

Day does include an extensive list of sources at the back, confirming what readers will most definitely already know, that The Mona Lisa Vanishes is a well-researched book about a heist that is largely forgotten outside the art world. Highly recommended for readers of all ages.

Book Details:

The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day
New York: Random House Studio      2023
278 pp.

Da Vinci's Tiger by L.M. Elliott

It is January, 1475. Sixteen-year-old Ginevra de' Benci Niccolini is seated in the front row with her friend Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci at a joust being held in the Piazza di Santa Croce."The Medici had organized this joust to celebrate Florence's new diplomatic alliance with Venice and Milan." Simonetta, "the publicly celebrated Platonic love" of Guiliano Medici, the younger brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent, has been honoured as the joust's "Queen of Beauty". Prior to the joust there had been a parade through Florence to Santa Croce, led by Guiliano, nine trumpeteers and two men-at-arms carrying pennants of the Medici coat of arms. Guiliano himself carried an enormous banner with Simonetta depicted as Pallas, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war. Considering all of this makes Ginevra jealous of Simonetta's appeal, but her friend informs her that the new Venetian ambassador, Bernardo Bembo has shown an interest in her.

After having unseated one opponent already, Guiliano's next opponent in the joust is Signor Morelli. When it appears the two combatants are tied, Signor Morelli graciously concedes the round, and offers his exquisitely painted banner of a reclining nymph to the Queen of Beauty. Ginevra believes the banner to be better than the one Botticelli painted for Guiliano. Simonetta tells Ginevra that Maestro Verrocchio painted the banner with the help of one of his apprentices named Leonardo from Vinci.

The rounds continue until well into the evening. Guiliano's opponent is Renato de Pazzi who enters the lists on a large black horse belonging to Guiliano's godfather who refused the horse to his godson. Simonetta explains the political power play that exists in Florence, how the Pazzi, who are nobles, continually attempt to undermine the powerful influence of the Medici. The challenge is made "a la guerre", meaning "Unhorsing a rider would be the aim and the only honorable way to win." The joust between Pazzi and Medici is violent but Guiliano unseats Renato and is declared the champion of the joust.

As she is leaving, Ginevra is introduced to the Venetian ambassador, Bernardo Bembo by Lorenzo de Medici. Lorenzo tells Ginevra that Bembo is interested in meeting citizens of Florence who love poetry. Lorenzo invites Ginevra to a dinner in his honour and to share one of her poems at the function. Ginevra's Uncle Bartolomoeo accepts the invitation on her and her husband Luigi Niccolini's behalf.

The next morning Ginevra greets her husband, Luigi and briefly discusses the joust with him. He is a member of the cloth merchant guild, the Arte di Calimala.  Ginevra wears a scarlet soft wool cape with a gold border and a dress "embroidered with intricate flower blossoms of red and emerald threads".  Although Ginevra and Luigi have consummated their marriage, she sleeps alone. Ginevra's marriage to Luigi Niccolini had been arranged on the previous January, against her will. Ginevra's father died in 1468, after which her Uncle Bartolomoeo had sent her away to Le Murate's convent school. She left the convent permanently, her uncle was now head of the family and in exchange for a position on one of Venice's eight priori, Ginevra was sold in marriage to the Niccolini family.

Ginevra does receive an invitation to the Medici dinner which is held in early March. When she and Luigi attend the function, they meet Verrocchio and his former apprentice Leonardo da Vinci. The latter believes Ginevra would make a "excellent subject". At the Medici dinner, Ginevra is enthralled by the naked bronze statue of David, the courtyard centerpiece done by Donatello. A discussion with Bernardo Bembo makes Ginevra blush. Bernardo's advances become more prominent and more transparent leading Ginevra to experience deep inner conflict.

As Ginevra is drawn further into the world of Florence's cultural elite, she finds herself drawn into a Platonic relationship with Bernardo Bembo. It is a relationship that pulls her into the Medici circle and into Florence's rich artisan culture, leading to a portrait that immortalizes her for posterity.

Discussion

Elliott has crafted an impressive fictional account of the life of sixteen-year-old Ginevra de' Benci's life and the painting of her portrait by Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci. Set in the High Renaissance, the mid-15th century in Florence, Italy, Elliott weaves a masterful story that incorporates many details of life during this era including cultural and religious practices, political intrigue in the Italian city states, and detailed descriptions of a working art studio. Elliott undertook significant research so that she could give her readers an encompassing view of life in the city-state of Florence in 1475.

All of the characters in the novel were real people who lived at the time Ginevra's portrait was painted except for Sancha, her maid. The basic details of Ginevra's life are incorporated into the story: she was born into a family of Florentine notaries who were connected to the wealthy and powerful Medici family and educated at Le Murate, a convent run by Abbess Scolastica Rondinelli and patronized by Ginevra's family. Ginevra was known in Florence as a poet. In 1474, she was married to  Luigi de Bernardo Niccolini, a widower and wool merchant, who was much older than Ginevra  The marriage was likely arranged by Ginevra's Uncle Bartolomeo who may have known Niccolini.

Many aspects of life in the High Renaissance are portrayed in Da Vinci's Tiger.  In the fifteenth century, Italy was comprised of a series of city states. The main republics were Florence, Milan, Genoa, Pisa and Venice. Unfortunately these city states were often at war with each other and at various times with the Pope. Eventually a peace was negotiated between Venice, Florence, Milan, Naples and the Papal States (areas controlled by the pope).

This period of peace and its recovery from the devastation wrought by the Black Death, allowed Florence to flourish as a center of business and trade. It soon became the cradle of the Renaissance, a movement that saw the rediscovery of classical Greek and Roman art and a focus on understanding the natural world through direct observation. Florence gradually came under the influence and control of the Medici family whose bank, became increasingly important. They were the leading family in Florence, their influence beginning with Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici who was involved in negotiating peace with Milan. His grandson, Lorenzo (the Magnificent) de' Medici received a humanist education and became a significant patron of the arts. Great families like the Medicis began to build beautiful estates, forgoing the austere homes of the Middle Ages. They began to build churches, convents, hospitals and held special feasts and entertainment. 

In Da Vinci's Tiger, the importance of the Medici family is explained by Ginevra, who states that they exerted their influence in subtle ways, through the patronage of the arts and festivals, "granting favors and loans", brokering "advantageous marriages and business partnerships." Lorenzo Medici was seen as especially as a patron of literature, inviting "artists, writers, and scholars to his country villas at Fiesole and Careggi to listen to music and poetry read aloud. They discussed the nature of man's supreme good, his summum bonum, as explored within classical texts. He also sponsored a Platonic Academy within the city, led by the great philosopher Marsilio Ficino..."

In Da Vinci's Tiger, Elliott portrays the sumptuous pageantry and the ongoing political intrigue and rivalries that marked life in 15th century Florence. For example, in June 1475, Ginevra like most other Florentines attends the Festival of John the Baptist. Elliott describes it for her readers through the eyes of Ginevra. "Florence had nearly a hundred public holidays during the year, but St. John's Feast was its grandest -- a two-day extravaganza celebrating both our material successes and our earnest piety." The festival begins with a "government-ordered mostra -- a lavish display of the city's riches as homage to the blessings out patron saint bestowed upon us...Festooning their shops with colorful banners, merchants put out their best merchandise --gold cloth, silver plates, painted panels, tapestry, jewelry, carved wood, embroidered leather...Florence's clergy donned elaborately embroidered vestments and processed through the streets with Florence's holy relics -- a thorn of the Holy Crown, a nail of the cross, a finger bone of John the Baptist. Following them came the city's secular dignitaries dressed as angels and biblical figures, with musicians of all sorts playing and singing."  On the morning of the second day of the festival "The city's guildsmen circled the Duomo cathedral to approach the ancient, octagonal Baptistery and its gates of paradise -- huge bronze doors decorated with scenes of St. John's life. Carrying painted candles, they slowly marched under blue canopies painted with stars and lilies that were stretched across the streets to replicate the night sky."  The palio, the horse race that caps the festival is a vibrant, heart-pounding event that Ginevra finds thrilling. "Now I could see the leading horses, legs flying, dirt churned up and sprayed, jockeys hunched and clinging to handfuls of mane. They had little hope now of steering their mounts, frenzied by the competition, frantic at the mass of humanity and their guttural shouts of encouragement.""

But there are also troubling aspects to life in Florence. For example the tamburi, "locked wooden boxes placed near major churches by the Ufficiali di Notte, the Officers of the Night. In those boxes, Florentines could denounce their neighbors for vice by leaving secret accusations of crimes against decency that brought arrest and trial in front of a tribunal of old men." Early in the novel, Ginevra and her maid Sancha witness Leonardo da Vinci attempting to break into a tamburi. It is a foreshadowing of an accusation made against him later on in the novel.

A significant portion of the novel revolves around Ginevra's relationship with a young Leonardo da Vinci. Elliott provides readers with much detail involving Leonardo, his physical appearance, his thoughts, his relationship with master Andrea del Verrocchio as well as his artistic endeavours in this early period. In her detailed Afterword, Elliott writes that "Much of Leonardo's dialogue comes from his own writings..." The reader learns much about Leonardo through the character himself as his friendship with Ginevra develops and he tells her about himself.

Leonardo da Vinci was the illegitimate son of Ser Piero, a notary in the village of Vinci and Caterina, a peasant girl who worked for the family. Leonardo lived with his mother when he was very young but eventually went to live with his father and grandfather. He spent much of his time with his tutor and uncle, Francesco who instilled in him  a curiosity about the natural world. At age fifteen, he was apprenticed to Andrea del Verrocchio of Florence. Leonardo was a polymath, having substantial gifts in many areas of science, art, architecture, music and engineering.  His paintings, sculptures, and many scientific discoveries continue to amaze today.

Ginevra de Benci by Leonardo da Vinci

The novel highlights the significant contributions Leonardo was beginning to make in the art world. While Verrocchio and Leonardo were adept at using egg tempera to paint, Elliott, through the character of Ginevra states, "But Leonardo was one of the first in Florence to attempt using the oils preferred by the northern painters in Flanders. Oil paints did provide subtler, more varied, and translucent tones but were difficult to mix evenly and to spread with the brush."

His portrait of Ginevra marked an innovative change in how portraits were painted, in that her portrait was painted in the three quarter pose. Elliott suggests in her novel that this was the (unlikely and feminist) idea of Ginevra who saw this as "the chance to make men listen -- and see -- what women had in their hearts and minds."  Ginevra wanted a "larger metaphor" for herself. In the novel she states, "My eyes would gaze unblinking to allow people to look into them and wonder about me. I, a mountain tiger, like the one that showed no fear when hunted, whose fierce dignity prompted imaginings about her soul and her courage -- a creature with her own past and own story."  However, it was Leonardo's decision to paint her in this way, to show her as a real person.

Da Vinci's Tiger deals with some mature themes including the attempted seduction of Ginevra by her Platonic love, Ambassador Bernardo Bembo. The concept of platonic love is explored throughout this novel. During the Renaissance, the renewed interest in Greek and Roman thought led to the practice of choosing a platonic love. This questionable practice, is explained by Ginevra as such, "According to Ficino's Neoplatonic philosophy, if a man could keep his ardor for a woman to a Platonic friendship -- in a look-but-do-not-touch idolization -- and only contemplate her physical loveliness as being manifestation of her virtuous spirit and absolute beauty, then his soul was purified. His love would, in essence, replicate the selfless love of Christ for us and bring the man closer to God." As Scholastica warned, Ginevra discovers this is often not what happens. Instead such relationships were often used to hide sinful behaviours and sometimes  led to the birth of illegitimate children.

Elliott also incorporates Leonardo's arrest for sodomy after someone denounces him and three other men. The accusations are serious because as Sancha indicates, the punishment can be severe especially for homosexual men. At dinner, Luigi tells Ginevra that he obtained Leonardo's freedom as a favour to the Medici family. But he also intimates indirectly to Ginevra that he too is a homosexual, thus explaining his lack of romantic interest in her. Whether Luigi Niccolini's homosexuality is fact or fiction is not addressed in Elliott's Afterword.

There are plenty of interesting historical aspects to investigate in this novel and Elliott has done a good job portraying the era and giving readers a sense of the genius of Leonardo da Vinci and the background behind the painting of one of his more famous works. Ellitott's characterization of Ginevra de Benci Niccolini is inspiring and realistic, that of a young woman of conviction, strength, intelligence and compassion, who wrote poetry and inspired one of the most famous artists of all time. One only needs to gaze at her portrait to see that Leonardo da Vinci succeeded in portraying  her as a real person, whose "motions of the mind" can be entertained simply by the pose portrayed.

Image credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginevra_de%27_Benci#/media/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_-_Ginevra_de'_Benci_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Book Details:

Da Vinci's Tiger by L.M. Elliott
New York: Katherine Tegen Books      2015
287 pp.

The Duchessina by Carolyn Meyer

This wonderfully written historical novel tells the story of Catherine de' Medici, the last surviving member of the Medici family directly descended from Lorenzo Il Magnifico Medici, who was Catherine's great-grandfather.

The opening chapter provides young readers with the background information about Catherine's life before the age of four, which is when Meyer picks up the story. 

Caterina Maria Romula di Lorenzo de ' Medici was given the  diminutive,  "Duchessina" or Little Duchess since her christening. Caterina was born on April 13, 1519 and was baptized three days later in the Medici family church of San Lorenzo. Just weeks after her birth, her mother passed away from childbed fever and her father died after a lengthy illness. 

She lived in the enormous Palazzo Medici with its large inner courtyard and marble statues. The main floor of the palace contained the large apartment of Cardinal Guilio de'Medici where he received visitors. Caterina spent her early childhood days with her nurse, Elisabetta whom she called Betta. 

Caterina received frequent visits from her father's sister, her Aunt Clarissa who told her about her great-grandfather, Lorenzo de'Medici, known as Il Magnifico and whose son became Pope Leo. She also reveals that when Caterina as a baby was sick with a fever, she was taken to Pope Leo who had her stay in Rome in the care of his sister, Lucrezia Salviata. At this time Pope Leo gave Caterina the title of Duchess of Urbino resulting in her nickname, "la duchessina". After the death of Pope Leo, Caterina returned to Florence with her Cardinal Giulio. He would meet with Caterina and her nurse, Betta monthly to be inspected. 

At the age of four Caterina discovered her older cousins, fourteen-year-old Ippolito and eleven-year-old Alessandro who lived in an apartment on the top floor.  Ippolito was handsome and kindly, while Alessandro was cruel and loved to taunt Catherine. Her Aunt Clarissa revealed that Alessandro was the son of a cardinal and his mother was a Moorish slave, while Ippolito was the son of Pope Leo's younger brother, Guiliano. Both boys were bastards (that is illegitimate). Shortly after Caterina's fourth birthday, the successor to Pope Leo mysteriously died, possibly by poisoning and Cardinal Guilio raced to Rome. He became Pope Clement VII and placed Caterina in the care of Cardinal Passerini. Life for Caterina changed dramatically. She was given a grander apartment, beautiful gowns and more servants. Betta revealed that this was to make her a good marriage prospect.

Caterina's Aunt Clarissa reveals that with the death of both her parents, Caterina inherited not just the de'Medici fortune but also her mother, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne's fortune as well. She was the cousin of the French king, Francois who had tried unsuccessfully to bring Caterina to France. At age five, Caterina was tutored by Fra Matteo. Caterina loved to visit her Aunt Clarissa and her husband Filippo and their four sons, Piero, Leone, Lorenzo, and Roberto, who were Caterina's real cousins. Cardinal Passerini used the visits as a reward but Caterina quickly learned to deceive "and admit to nothing."  meets Michelangelo Buonarotti one day in that chapel. One day when she was almost six years old, Caterina was taunted by Alessandro who told her she looks like a frog. From this experience Caterina began to understand that she must be clever to get what she wanted.

When Catherine was almost eight years old, her world changed again. the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles who was in conflict with Pope Clement, ordered troops to sack Rome as a punishment for the pope's support of the French king, Francois I. The year that Caterina was born, 1519, Charles V, king of Spain became the Holy Roman Emperor. King Francois of France made ware against Charles V and was taken prisoner, releasing him in exchange for Francois's two sons. Because Pope Clement was an ally of Francois, the pope, the Medici family and all of Florence were at risk.  The Holy Roman Emperor Charles ordered troops to sack Rome as a punishment for the pope's support of the French king. Soldiers pillaged, burned, murdered and raped throughout Rome, and Pope Clement VII was forced to flee to safety.

Ippolito and Alessandro are taken by Cardinal Passerini to his palazzo in Cortona. To escape a mob outside the Medici palazzo, Clarissa and Caterina, disguised in a boy's tunic attempted to flee to Poggio a Caiano, the Medici villa in the country. However, they are discovered Clarissa is told that the new governors of Florence want Caterina as a hostage. Caterina and Clarissa are forced to return to Florence where Catherine is placed in the Santa Lucia convent in the Via San Gallo for her own protection. 

Life at Santa Lucia was difficult for Caterina. She wore a rough linen tunic, slept in a bed with a straw mattress and was tormented by one of the nuns, Suor Immacolata who tells Caterina that her father ruined her and many other servant girls and that he died of the "French disease". Between prayers in the chapel, Caterina was made to work in the laundry. She was able to befriend one young nun, Suor Caterina. Eventually Caterina was visited by an ambassador from France, representing King Francois, who revealed that although he could not free her, he could request that she be taken to a more suitable place. The ambassador revealed that Florence continued to be in turmoil and the Medici were hated. 

Caterina was taken to Santa-Maria Annunziata delle Murate which she was familiar with and which the abbess, Suor Margherita was her godmother. There conditions were much better; a small room with a thick mattress and warm blankets, a brazier and a lay sister Maddelena who was her maid servant. Gradually Caterina recovered her health with the care of the nuns. At the convent Caterina is tutored in the virtues. She had already learned to read Latin from Fra Matteo before Cardinal Passerini had stopped the lessons. Caterina was sent to the scriptorium to learn from Suor Battista to be a copyist.Shortly after her ninth birthday, Caterina's Aunt Clarissa died in giving birth to a daughter, Caterina who also died. 

In exchange for being made Holy Roman Emperor, King Charles of Spain allowed the Pope Clement to return to Rome. The previous year when Rome was sacked, Florence declared itself a republic. However, Pope Clement refused to recognize this and made Alessandro de'Medici ruler of Florence for life. To force the Signoria and the people of Florence to accept this, King Charles laid seige to the city. During the seige, Caterina became ill but recovered, many of the nuns succumbed to the plague and her beloved Suor Battista died. 

Caterina was sent back to the Santa Lucia convent. To protect herself, she cut off her hair and dressed in the habit of a novice and was led to Santa Lucia by Silvestro Aldobrandini of the Signoria's Council of Ten, in the hopes of keeping her safe. Eventually Florence capitulated after sixteen thousand of its citizens died from plague and starvation and the surrounding farms and estates had been destroyed. When Caterina learned that the all the members of the Council of Ten were to be executed she wrote a letter to Pope Clement begging for clemency for Aldobrandini. Caterina was forced to move to Rome by Pope Clement but agreed to spare the life of Aldobrandini and exile him. She travelled to Rome accompanied by her maid, Betta and Cardinal Giovanni Salviati and was placed into the home of Lucrezia de'Medici Salviati, Caterina's great-aunt. Living in the palazzo was Lucrezia's elderly husband Jacopo Salviati, her son Cardinal Giovanni and his assistants, her widowed daughter Maria, and her younger daughter Francesca.

In Rome, Caterina quickly discovered that both Ippolito and Alessandro also live at the palazzo and that it was Pope Leo's intention that Ippolito rule over Florence. She was tutored in Latin, Greek, and astrology in preparation for her marriage some day to a nobleman. In the first months of 1531, Caterina and Ippolito spent time in the library getting to know one another. Ippolito revealed that Alessandro is the bastard son of Pope Clement VII. Sadly, Caterina and Ippolito's meetings were discovered by Alessandro. As a result of this discovery, Pope Clement made Ippolito a cardinal, destroying Caterina's hope that one day she could marry him.

Now separated forever from the man she loves, Caterina found herself being tutored by the French Ambassador, Monsieur Philippe. During this time, Caterina also learned that she was to be wed to Henri, Duke of Orleans, and the second son of King Francois of France. In the meantime she is to be under the guardianship of Alessandro in Florence.  Caterina wondered, what her future holds, living in a strange country, far away from her beloved Florence? And will her husband be a kind and loving man? 

Discussion

In The Duchessina, Carolyn Meyer has crafted another rich historical novel that captures the essence of life during the Italian Renaissance, along with all the political maneuvering between the Catholic church and kings and nobility of the period. Readers get a brief history of the Medici's but it is helpful to understand more about this famous family. Lorenzo Medici brought fame, prestige and power to the republic of Florence through his immense patronage of the arts. However, it was his grandfather, Cosimo who began this patronage, spending his vast fortune on both the arts and the government in Florence. Lorenzo continued the patronage.  Some of the famous artists who were supported by the Medici included , Piero, Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, and Michelangelo Buonarotti.

The Medici's had long been involved in banking but by the 15th century (1400's) the Medici bank had became the largest bank in Europe. It is also likely the Medici's were the wealthiest family in Europe during this time and with this wealth came great political power. They were the de facto rulers of Florence often exerting power through the city's politicians and through arranged marriages with other important families. But the Medici banking business soon became entangled in the running of the government. Bank failures and other mismanagement resulted in the Medici decline in power in the later 1400's. The Medici family, once beloved by the people of Florence, were despised and hated now by the people who wanted a ruler other than a Medici. It is this time period that Catherine di Medici was born into. 

Caterina was born on April 13, 1591 to Lorenzo de'Medici and a French noblewoman, Madeleine de la Tour d'Auvergne, Countess of Boulogne. With the death of her parents, King Francis 1 of France wanted Caterina raised in the French court. Pope Leo X, who was Lorenzo's uncle, refused as he intended for her to marry her cousin, Ippolito de'Medici.  Caterina was cared for by her aunt, Clarice de'Medici. After the death of Pope Adrian VI and the election of Pope Clement VII in 1523, Caterina was taken to live at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. The new pope's intent was to secure a politically advantageous marriage for Caterina. 

In 1527 the people of Florence revolted against the rule of the Medici and Caterina was taken hostage, shunted from convent to convent. In order for Pope Clement to retake Florence for the Medici, he was forced to crown Charles of Austria as the Holy Roman Emperor. In exchange, Charles troops laid siege to Florence in 1529 leading to the city to surrender in 1530. 

Caterina was taken to Rome to be under the patronage of Pope Clement VII who set about to find a suitable marriage for her. She was married to Henri, Duke of Orleans on October 28, 1533 at Eglise  Ferreol les Augustin in Marseille. She was fourteen-years-old and came with a huge dowry paid for by the pope. However, when Pope Paul III was elected, he refused to continue paying the dowry and this affected Caterina's standing in the French court. The first ten years of their marriage saw no children but Caterina eventually had ten children. 

The Duchessina tells Caterina's story from infancy through the siege of Florence, her marriage to Henri and his death in 1559. The focus in her adult years is on her relationship with her husband Henri who did not love her, and her struggles to produce an heir for the French crown. 

Meyer incorporates many historical details about life in the 1500's into her story. Caterina describes how the season of Advent in the Catholic church was celebrated. "...Advent, the month-long penitential season just before Christmas when the altars were hung with violet silk and everyone abstained from eating meat, eggs, milk, and cheese on certain days." 

The novel describes life in a convent in detail:  "The professed nuns ate first. When they'd finished, the young girls and a few elderly widows and few elderly widows who made their home here entered for the second sitting. The novices and lay sisters ate last. The polished wooden benches and tables smelled of beeswax, and beautiful paintings of the Holy Virgin and the Christ Child hung on the whitewashed walls." The duties of the nuns are also described. In the kitchen, "... the sisters made sweets of honey and nuts and dried fruits, and there was a room where they filled pomander balls with dried rose petals and spices." There was a weaving room where looms were used to make "...fine linen for altar cloths and damask tablecloths. Nuns stitched dainty sleeping shifts and undergarments of embroidered silk, trousseaux for wealthy girls about to be married. They spun fine gold thread for costly embroidery and worked delicate lace for vestments and altar hangings." There was also a scriptorium where "...in a series of small cubicles on the upper floor, a dozen nuns sat at slanted desks and copied manuscripts, missals and graduals and prayer books intended for private devotion."

She also effectively portrays the role of wealthy women in society during this time through the character of Caterina. As with many wealthy girls and women in the Italian Renaissance, Caterina found her life very restricted. She had few choices, although her life was much better than women who were not of the nobility. As a child limited to the palazzo, she learned "...to be content within my small, restricted world: my sumptuous suite of rooms, with occasional escapes to the courtyard, the kitchen, the garden, and the chapel." Caterina notes that the beautiful paintings on the plaster walls of the chapel contain no girls or women, only "...priests, churchmen, shepherds, citizens, slaves."  

Because she was so wealthy and related to Pope Clement, Caterina was used as a political pawn and had no choice in marriage. As with many wealthy women of this period, they were given in marriage to strengthen political and family ties. She could only hope that her future husband would care for her and that she would grow to love him. 

Caterina de Medici was a strong, resilient woman, who suffered through the loss of all those close to her, who had little choice in the path her life was to take but ,who was determined to make the best of every situation. Meyer succeeds in creating a great deal of empathy for the young Caterina as she struggles to cope with situations beyond her control throughout her youth and a disappointing marriage. There is even a tragic loss of love in the novel that adds a sense of misfortune to her life. The author is able to capture Catherine's human qualities of intelligence, independence and strength of character, and make them very real to her readers. Catherine eventually became Queen of France, and after the death of Henri II in 1559, she was deeply involved in the political life of France and Europe. She was the mother of ten children, three of whom became monarchs.

Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de Medici is an excellent fifth book in Carolyn Meyer's acclaimed Young Royals series. There is some sexual content in the novel and therefore this book is for older teens. There is a Medici family tree at the front of the novel, that is helpful to understanding the relationship between various people in the Medici family and a good Historical Notes at the conclusion of the novel.

Book Details:
Duchessina: A Novel of Catherine de' Medici by Carolyn Meyer
Toronto: Harcourt Books       2007
261pp.