The Painter's Apprentice

This is the first book of Laura Morelli's that I have read and I was quite impressed. The story was rich with the arts and forbidden love in 1510 Venice when it was fighting a big battle with the bubonic plague. It is the author's second novel in her Venetian Artisans series.

19 year old Maria Bartolini has been sent away from her father's gilding workshop to work as an apprentice under famous painter Master Trevisan for 18 months in exchange for learning how to use pigments. She prefers to work with gold leaves but works hard to learn how to paint with pigment all while pining for her home, family and her lover, a Saracen working in her father's shop as a gold beater. When she discovers that she is pregnant Maria tries to get in touch with her family but is blocked by barricades set up to stop the spread of the pestilence, the bubonic plague. The Trevisan family maid figures out Maria's secret and together with the family's boatman exhorts money from her to keep the secret from Master Trevisan. Other artisans have been jailed and then exiled for the same offense so Maria pays them until she can figure out how to handle her situation.

I love art, using gold leaves too, so the artistic backstory was fascinating for me. I also love the Renaissance period. The pairing of these two made for a great story. Add in a forbidden love story between an interracial couple and a plague and you have a plot that is hard to beat.

As an artist I loved reading all the details about the gilding process. I was amused when artists from other areas of Europe were brought into the story who talked about using a new background for their art - canvas. It was deemed revolutionary to those who were doing traditional paintings on wood. The use of oil paints as a new medium was also discussed but the guild the Venetians belonged to still mixed pigment from natural resources. I thought this was hilarious but truth be told it was during this era that the art world began to change.

Another major part of the story was the bubonic plague. It affected commerce, how the artisans were able to obtain supplies and maintain customers as the city fell victim to the plague block by block. Neighborhoods were boarded up so no one could enter or leave which meant food could not be delivered to those in quarantine. When someone got sick they were forced by the police to sail to a nearby island where most of them died and were buried without notice to their families.

The characters were awesome.  All of them. From Maria to her father, aunt, cousin, lover, boss, the maid, the boatman and the boss's wife, they all played their parts well.  The maid and boatman provided the story with the evil characters while Master Trevisan's wife was the typical rich and gossipy wife. Maria had an aunt who was a nun who did her best to get her to enter the convent.

The author used contemporary English with the exception of the character and place names which helped to make the book a quick read.  I enjoyed The Painter's Apprentice immensely and rate it 5 out of 5 stars.