leonardo da vinci

Top 10 Must See Art in Italy

Top 10 Must See Art in Italy

There are so many works of art in Italy, what MUST you see when traveling across the peninsula? When you come back home, and your friends say, “Did you see ________?” You want to be able to say YES, right? But how are you supposed to know which pieces are the most significant when the list of “iconic” works in Italy is so long?

Meeting Mona Lisa

Meeting Mona Lisa

A friend recently told me about his experience seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time. "I was expecting to have this quiet, intimate moment with this beautiful painting," he said. "Instead, it was a madhouse! Why didn't anyone…

Shockingly True Things in Oil and Marble

Shockingly True Things in Oil and Marble

Today, a new Leonardo da Vinci drawing was discovered in France (see featured image). To honor this very real discovery of very real history, here are 10 shockingly true stories from my historical novel, Oil and Marble: a novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo. I wrote lots of imagined bits — that’s why it’s fiction — but these historical facts may surprise you.

Bibliography for Oil and Marble

Bibliography for Oil and Marble

A lot of people ask about the research that went into my art historical novel, Oil and Marble. I’ve been obsessed with Michelangelo, Leonardo and the Italian Renaissance for over 20 years (I’ve read every book I could find, crawled into …

Find Other Leonardo da Vinci Novels

Find Other Leonardo da Vinci Novels

If you're anything like me, you're eager to read Walter Isaacson's upcoming biography of Leonardo da Vinci. But it doesn't come out until October 17th, so what are you going to do until then? To tide you over, here's a list...

Leonardo da Vinci: Top 10 Quotes

Leonardo da Vinci: Top 10 Quotes

In honor of Leonardo da Vinci’s 565th birthday today (he was born on April 15, 1452), I’m celebrating with 10 of my favorite quotes attributed to the maestro (yes, many of these can be found in my novel, Oil and Marble).

On Revisiting the Last Supper

On Revisiting the Last Supper

The first time I visited — over 20 years ago — the painting felt distant. I’d studied it for so may hours in a dark art history classroom that I didn’t know how to connect with the thing itself. The second time, I focused on studying every …


Top 10 Questions About Oil and Marble

Top 10 Questions About Oil and Marble

Over the last two-and-a-half months, I’ve traveled to 18 states, signed over 1,000 books, and put on 81 “shows” (where I do a reading and/or talk about my novel). I’ve spoken at book stores, museums, art galleries, libraries, historical …