Lead Review

• Book: The Medici Boy
• Location: Florence
• Author: John L'Heureux

This is a a novel that visually and emotionally transports the reader to Renaissance Italy and the bottega or workshop of Donatello who is arguably one of the greatest artists of all time. Florence was one of Italy’s most important cities. Donatello is creating his great bronze statue of David and Goliath for the garden of his friend and benefactor Cosimo de’ Medici. Then add into the mix the battles for power featuring, of course, the Medici. The story is narrated by Luca Mattei, who is Donatello’s assistant. The whole story brought me back to Vasari’s The Lives of the Artists which I remembered reading as an art history student. And it made that period really blossom in my mind, thinking a lot about the doors of the Baptistery. Ghiberti won the competition to design the doors for the Baptistery and Donatello assisted Ghiberti. And that is where he made his mark.

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