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Start giftingLady in Ermine
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“For fun and bc I'm currently teaching a course on the Renaissance, I listened to my first libro.fm audiobook, a novel/quasi documentary style book on the painter Sofonisba Anguissola...one of the greatest Renaissance painters you never heard of! Too bad they didn't include a female Ninja Turtle, because she is a fantastic candidate to offer a name. I was able to listen while working and it was really delightful! I learned a lot--and she had a long, very interesting artist's life spent in all the right places - Cremona, Madrid, Florence, Palermo, Genoa... - to introduce you to important folks like Isabel Valois, Phillip II, Michaelangelo, Catherine di Medici, and so on. And her paintings are still around to see, online even for most of them! The reading was done by an actor, Nicol Zanzarella, with a great voice and some funky and fun accent work. So much fun. Nicol was phenomenal--and was even fluent reading Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French at points. So impressive--and very dramatic when called for.”
— Jerise • Word Up Community Bookshop
Stroke by stroke, color by color, the past comes alive as a young woman in Lombardy, Italy, trains to paint with the masters.
Will her ambition be too much for them? Or will she secure her place in the world of Renaissance art, despite them?
As Sofonisba struggles to make her name, the Spanish empire invades Italy. With Michelangelo as her mentor and her father as her champion, Sofonisba dreams of painting the Spanish king.
In this novel of royal intrigue and artistic toil, we see the soul of the painter come alive. We watch as Sofonisba struggles to realize her dreams against the backdrop of patriarchal Europe. When royal tragedy unfolds, we learn the true strength of our heroine.
Romance, hardship, bankruptcy, and a legacy of hundreds of paintings that still influence today's artists. An authentic story of what it was like to be a woman of ambition in the Renaissance.
History comes dramatically alive as we journey through the Renaissance with Sofonisba Anguissola.
This is her story.
Donna DiGiuseppe is the author of Lady in Ermine: The Story of A Woman Who Painted the Renaissance and A Pictorial Companion to Lady in Ermine: The Story of Sofonisba Anguissola.
Nicol Zanzarella is an award-winning audiobook narrator, with titles spanning multiple genres in both fiction and nonfiction. She came to audiobook narration after (literally) growing up within the walls of a local radio station that her father ran, and brings with her a background in both classical and contemporary theater, as well as film. She also has numerous television and radio commercials to her credit. Originally from Yonkers, New York, she currently lives in California, where, when not in the booth, you can usually find her drinking coffee, cooking her grandmother's Italian recipes, or in the local boxing gym. Thank you for listening!