This compelling novel takes the reader into the tumultuous period of the
Renaissance and the origins of Leonardo da Vinci, the bastard child of a
notary. Of da Vinci, the eminent art historian Kenneth Clark wrote, "no
more complex and mysterious character ever existed than this Hamlet of
art history." Clark noted that one had to be "familiar with all of
Leonardo's writings in their chronological order (and) the state of
learning in the Renaissance to judge Leonardo's progress in relation to
that of his contemporaries."
Curtis Bill Pepper has risen to that challenge after fifteen years of
research in Italy unearthing archival records that point to the identity
of Leonardo's mother, a Circassian slave, and shed light on the various
individuals who played important roles in the development of his
character and intellect. The author places Leonardo in the context of
the Medici, Sforza, and French dynasties, the politics of rival
city-states, incessant internal wars and foreign invasions, theological
disputes among religious orders, and corrupt, power-driven papacies that
characterized the era.
The end result of Pepper's efforts does not in any way supplant many
formidable biographies, or invaluable research by Leonardo specialists.
It goes beyond them in seeking to portray the physical reality and
psychic conflicts within this obsessively driven human being a
relatively unknown aspect of the artist that has generally eluded
historians.
