The Romance of Leonardo da Vinci, the Forerunner

About this book

The work is a sprawling biographical romance that places the life of Leonardo da Vinci within a richly imagined Renaissance Italy. It opens as the second volume of Dmitry Merezhkovsky’s historical trilogy, following the “Death of the Gods” and presenting a narrative that intertwines art, politics, and occult intrigue. The opening pages already plunge the reader into a bustling Florentine setting, streets crowded with dye‑shops, guilds, and the clamor of merchants, while a detailed ledger entry by the merchant Cipriano Buonaccorsi anchors the story in 1494. From a dispute over a newly erected Venus statue to a whispered legend of a bronze devil turned church bell, the prose establishes a world where commerce, superstition, and the looming presence of Leonardo’s genius intersect.

Merezhkovsky’s voice is lush and baroque, echoing the turn‑of‑the‑century Russian symbolist tradition while drawing on a wealth of historical detail. The style is dense, with long, descriptive sentences that evoke the texture of the period, its language, religious fervor, and the tension between the sacred and the profane. Readers who relish immersive historical fiction, especially those fascinated by the cultural ferment of the Italian Renaissance and the mythic dimensions of great artists, will find this novel’s intricate tapestry compelling.