Steeped in the turmoil of the
non-unified Italy of the 1400's, Marina Fiorato skillfully weaves a detailed
and evasive mystery around one of Botticelli's more famous paintings, Primavera
or Allegory of Spring. The painting is packed with meaning alone,
but Fiorato takes the painting to an entirely new level in her book, The
Botticelli Secret.
Painted in 1482, the Primavera was
created by Italian Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. He was of the
Florentine school and worked during the Early Renaissance or Qauttrocento. It
is suggested that the allegory had been petitioned by the Medici family.
The work is largely accepted as an
allegory of springtime; however, other themes and meanings have been explored,
including the idea that the painting illustrates the ideal of Neoplatonic love.
For Fiorato, the painting serves as the basis for her art history mystery in
her novel.
Fiorato opens her novel with the
introduction of her heroine- common whore by the name of Luciana Vetra. She is
described as a classical beauty, with long flowing ringlets and a sharp tongue
from the four years that she spent on the streets of Florence. She is aptly named
for how she arrived in Florence. Her origins for much of the novel are unknown,
but from the beginning Luciana speaks of her uncommon arrival in the city- as a
baby washed-up on the shores of the city in a glass bottle.
The reader is quickly drawn to her,
despite her abrasiveness and crassness that are abundant in the earlier part of
the novel, but softens as she finds herself and finds love during the course of
the story. Her flaws make Luciana realistic and easy to relate to, despite the
over-the-top mystery and life that she eventually gets swept up in to.
Fiorato's story of Luciana, Primavera
and the mystery that engulfs everything is skillfully rendered and so lush that
the reader easily gets immersed in the world of what Italy was like during the early
part of the Renaissance. Fiorato leaves nothing to the imagination and stays
away from romanticizing the period, leaving the reader with a raw and detailed
depiction of what life was like during the time that Botticelli lived and
worked.
The Botticell Secret by Marina Fiorato was originally published in April of
2010. It is available for purchase through St. Martin's Griffin, New York with
ISBN 978-0-312-60636-7.
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