The Painter’s Apprentice is set in Venice in 1510. A master gilder sends his daughter, Maria, from home to apprentice under Master Trevisan, a well-known painter. Her father does this for two reasons: to get her away from her illicit lover, Cristiano, (who’s been hired to beat gold bullion into gold leaf) and to learn the art of mixing paints as her father feels that gilding is falling out of favor in the art world. While Maria is studying under Trevisan, the Black Death plague strikes, isolating her even further from her beloved father and her beloved.
The result of her dalliance with Cristiano, while unexpected for this naive heroine, is not for the reader. Her pregnancy leads to her involvement with two sordid characters, the gondola man and the housekeeper for Trevisan, leading to her peril and several tense moments.
There was enough art-oriented detail about gilding, etc, that this former artist found to be interesting and accurate. Maria was an enterprising young woman with a solid work ethic and genuine love and concern for her family as Venice struggles through the plague. Overall, though, the novel felt a bit flat. There was the requisite happily-ever-after, though.
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The Painter’s Apprentice (The Scriptorium, November 1, 2017) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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