![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liriaen posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
historiumRemember Alberto Mio, that joyous figment of my mind that had Albrecht Dürer, Cesare Borgia and Miquel de Corella meet in Venice, in the geopolitical hothouse that was the autumn of 1494? That first Venice trip of Dürer's has long been art historic lore yet it's not verifiable; he might not have gotten farther than Lago di Garda, that one time. Which didn't stop me from throwing him, Cesare, Micheletto, Giorgione, Bellini and assorted altri together for a chance encounter that would have, ahem, consequences.
Dürer's 1505-1507 trip to Venice, however, is factual. It is described gorgeously in a sheaf of very interesting (and, at times, hysterically funny) letters to his Patrician buddy Pirckheimer, back in Nuremberg. Here, he mentions plans to travel to Bologna to learn more about perspective in painting, perhaps continuing on to Florence, and possibly even Rome (some experts surmise he was hoping to meet Bramante there).
Going by his letters, one may assume this trip was one of the happiest times of his life. He was respected and belly-rubbed, his art was in high demand, every day was a discovery, he bought new and costly clothes and tried to learn to dance, he fraternised with all sorts of members of the artistic guilds, even though he often remained wary of them (these Italians, y'know! Poisoners, all! And everyone has the French Disease!). His social and sexual life must have been thrilling; his letters to the connoisseur Pirckheimer mention the strapping young lads and soldiers that, supposedly, were also quite to Pirckheimer's taste.
The Venetian Doge tempted Albrecht to stay in Venice, offering him a solid annual stipend of 200 ducats - in today's money, something around 40.000 Euro in gold, but with a contemporary purchasing power of around 120.000 Euro. And yet, in early 1507, Albrecht returned home. He came back a richer man: bursting with new colour and light, with new impressions, new methods, new and intensified contacts. He had probably met most of the big northern Italian Renaissance artists, or at least seen some of their most high profile works. NO artist works in a vacuum, ever.
Why am I telling you this?
Because, between the late summer of 1505 and late autumn of 1507, Miquel de Corella is in Florence, in the employ of the City. LOOK, I don't even have to invent this! Fact is: he's been caught, tortured, dragged before the Roman courts for a show trial, thrown into prison - and in the summer of 1506 he is in Florence, while Cesare still is in prison in Spain.
Fact.
Everything else? This all totally happened, too, in my mind. Yup.
I've been working on this tale since summer 2021, it's currently some 18K (which, for my writing habits and style, is pretty much Tolstoy-sized) and it's nowhere near finished, but if I don't start posting it soon I'll be going spare. With that, I give you...
Title: 'Il Vostro Cuore', the sequel to Alberto Mio, a work of as yet indeterminate length and quality.
Fandom: Renaissance RPF
Rating: Please heed ratings and warnings for individual chapters.
Characters: Albrecht Dürer, Miquel de Corella, Niccolò Machiavelli, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (so far)
Word count: w.i.p.
Summary: It is the summer of 1506, twelve years after the events in Alberto Mio, and times have changed: Cesare is in prison in Spain. Miquel is something not unlike alive. And Albrecht Dürer, an artist of renown, is in Italy again. He got it into his pretty curly-haired head to travel from Venice to Florence, for business and leisure.
.
Dürer's 1505-1507 trip to Venice, however, is factual. It is described gorgeously in a sheaf of very interesting (and, at times, hysterically funny) letters to his Patrician buddy Pirckheimer, back in Nuremberg. Here, he mentions plans to travel to Bologna to learn more about perspective in painting, perhaps continuing on to Florence, and possibly even Rome (some experts surmise he was hoping to meet Bramante there).
Going by his letters, one may assume this trip was one of the happiest times of his life. He was respected and belly-rubbed, his art was in high demand, every day was a discovery, he bought new and costly clothes and tried to learn to dance, he fraternised with all sorts of members of the artistic guilds, even though he often remained wary of them (these Italians, y'know! Poisoners, all! And everyone has the French Disease!). His social and sexual life must have been thrilling; his letters to the connoisseur Pirckheimer mention the strapping young lads and soldiers that, supposedly, were also quite to Pirckheimer's taste.
The Venetian Doge tempted Albrecht to stay in Venice, offering him a solid annual stipend of 200 ducats - in today's money, something around 40.000 Euro in gold, but with a contemporary purchasing power of around 120.000 Euro. And yet, in early 1507, Albrecht returned home. He came back a richer man: bursting with new colour and light, with new impressions, new methods, new and intensified contacts. He had probably met most of the big northern Italian Renaissance artists, or at least seen some of their most high profile works. NO artist works in a vacuum, ever.
Why am I telling you this?
Because, between the late summer of 1505 and late autumn of 1507, Miquel de Corella is in Florence, in the employ of the City. LOOK, I don't even have to invent this! Fact is: he's been caught, tortured, dragged before the Roman courts for a show trial, thrown into prison - and in the summer of 1506 he is in Florence, while Cesare still is in prison in Spain.
Fact.
Everything else? This all totally happened, too, in my mind. Yup.
I've been working on this tale since summer 2021, it's currently some 18K (which, for my writing habits and style, is pretty much Tolstoy-sized) and it's nowhere near finished, but if I don't start posting it soon I'll be going spare. With that, I give you...
Title: 'Il Vostro Cuore', the sequel to Alberto Mio, a work of as yet indeterminate length and quality.
Fandom: Renaissance RPF
Rating: Please heed ratings and warnings for individual chapters.
Characters: Albrecht Dürer, Miquel de Corella, Niccolò Machiavelli, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (so far)
Word count: w.i.p.
Summary: It is the summer of 1506, twelve years after the events in Alberto Mio, and times have changed: Cesare is in prison in Spain. Miquel is something not unlike alive. And Albrecht Dürer, an artist of renown, is in Italy again. He got it into his pretty curly-haired head to travel from Venice to Florence, for business and leisure.
.
