''Leonardo's Swans'' is an international bestseller by

Karen Essex Karen Essex is an American historical novelist, a screenwriter, and journalist. Early life and education Essex was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager, she got involved with the theatre and focused her collegiate studies on costume de ...

, published by Doubleday in 2006. The novel tells the story of the rivalry between the powerful Este sisters,

Beatrice Beatrice may refer to: * Beatrice (given name) Places In the United States * Beatrice, Alabama, a town * Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality * Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated ...

and

Isabella Isabella may refer to: People and fictional characters * Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Isabella (surname), including a list of people Places United States * Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpora ...

, princesses of the House of Ferrara, as they competed for the attentions of both the Duke of Milan and

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

when the artist was court painter in the High Renaissance. Also included are excerpts from Leonardo's own journals and letters, which reflect the contents of each chapter. The ''Washington Post'' praised Essex’ portrayal of Leonardo. “Leonardo's character is one of the great surprises of this book, and in portraying him the author never seems to engage in post-Dan Brown opportunism. The reader may be constantly reminded of Leonardo's genius, but he is an understated figure, a brilliant but disorganized mind whose twitchy intelligence makes him interested in starting countless projects but able to finish few. One of the pleasures of reading this book is learning the secret history behind paintings like ''

The Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

'' and ''

The Virgin of the Rocks The ''Virgin of the Rocks'' ( it, Vergine delle rocce), sometimes the ''Madonna of the Rocks'', is the name of two paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, of the same subject, with a composition which is identical except fo ...

''. The novel was widely read and acclaimed in Italy and won the Premio Roma for Foreign Fiction in 2007. It is published in twenty-five languages.Author website
KarenEssex.com
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References

External links

Review at BookBrowse.com
2006 novels Novels about artists Historical novels Works about Leonardo da Vinci House of Este Doubleday (publisher) books {{2000s-hist-novel-stub