The Colour Storm

Venice, 1510. The world’s greatest artists gather to enjoy fame, fortune and colour. Once a rising star, painter Giorgione “Zorzo’ Barbarelli’s career hangs in the balance. Until he hears rumour of a mysterious new pigment, brought to Venice by a wealthy merchant. When Zorzo wins a commission to paint a portrait of the merchant’s wife, Sybille, he draws ever closer to acquiring the most coveted colour in the world – and writing his name in history. But it is Sybille whose eye he catches. And when their relationship drags Zorzo into a conspiracy spanning Europe, it is far more than his career in danger.

 

A beautifully painted world of ambition, power and art with the Venice of the time vividly brought to life. There is a richness of detail in what is at the same time, a love story, a thriller and the story of artists’s obsessions with colour and beauty, their creative vision often at odds with their need to make a living, to paint what is demanded of them, to seek patronages and commissions to ensure the continuance of their studios and the apprentices who rely upon them. An enjoyable page-turner that taught me a lot about art and Venice.