Noelle
posts on 12/9/2007 8:50:21 PM
Michelangelo could not be the painter being that he was first of all older then the painter described in the novel based on the fact that Lorenzo dies in the begining of the book and was a large supporter of Michelangelo. Also Michelangelo was from the Florence area, he never grew up in a monastery, and he could speak Italian. I believe that all the hints to the painters real identity lead to the fact that the painter is a fictional character just like Alessandra.
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JUDIE
posts on 3/4/2007 11:27:27 PM
I am wondering where I find the answers to all the questions that were posted.
thanks
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Ani
posts on 11/27/2006 9:14:53 PM
Hi, i have finished reading the book for the second time, but i still cannot understand why Alessandra, a woman of great courage that had a lot that was worth living for commits a suicide?
Why is it that she does not leave with the painter and her daughter? And is the character of the painter based on a real person? If so, who is it?
Thank you
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posts on 8/17/2006 6:10:45 AM
Alessandra's mother had an affair with Lorenzo de' Medici, which is why Alessandra looked so different from her siblings. If you remember Alessandra said she had really only seen her mother cry once and that was at the funeral of Lorenzo, meaning she had feelings for the man other than he was just a leader that she admired.She had to have known him especially after she was one of the few people invited to his villa in Careggi in 1477, the same year Alessandra was conceived. Futhermore her mother basically came right out with it on pages 356 and 357, after Alessandra gave birth to her daughter.
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posts on 5/8/2006 10:38:14 PM
Im so sorry to interrupt the discussion, but does anyone here know of any good Italian literature? Im looking at The Birth of Venus right now. I need to do a paper on the subjects of love/romance trends in the Italian culture for my 11th grade Honors English paper, and i was wondering if anyone could recommend a good novel to me that I can base it on. Im trying to prove that Italians are more passionate and free with love because they as a society value pleasure and enjoy life. It needs to be fairly well known, preferably somewhat of a classic. The novel also needs to be set in Italy. I need to know if this nove is big enough for any critical analysis to have been written about it. IF there is, does anyone know where i could find it? Anything anyone could give me would be a huge help, ive been doing booksearches on here for days. I would really appreciate a good recommendation! Thank you all so much!
- desperate squirrel girl
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cathy
posts on 8/5/2005 9:46:47 PM
He's not Michaelangelo. But i feel there's a good chance "the painter" is based on a real person, I just don't know who. Does anyone have any idea?
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donnetta
posts on 7/17/2005 9:13:31 PM
What was the secret about Alessandra's mother? Am I right, the mother had an affair and Alessandra was the result of her passion? Hence, Alessandra's looks were different from the rest of her siblings?
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Cuyler
posts on 7/6/2005 4:11:33 PM
Does anyone know who represents Sarah Dunant's work in the US?
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me
posts on 6/4/2005 12:04:51 AM
"the painter" is definitely NOT michelangelo. alessandra mentions "finally learning the name of michelangelo buonarroti .... my painter and his nemesis" towards the end of the book. the nemesis is obviously michelangelo in the sense that when "the painter" had an spiritual/emotional breakdown before, it was due to them going to the hospital and studying the corpses under the guidance of someone whose name he doesn't know but who manages to come up with a sculpture of the crucifixion done in white cedar (which is also mentioned towards the end of the novel again)--- that someone then disappears after savonarola comes into power and true enough, that is the case with michelangelo.
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Sylvia
posts on 5/22/2005 1:56:32 AM
This is clearly impossible in that although Michelangelo was a very pious man--like the painter in the Birth of Venus--he was not attracted to females; he was a homosexual and a social recluse. Also, the epilogue of the story does not quite tell us that he is Michelangelo.
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