Enduring friendships and long-held vendettas come alive against the splendor and decadence of eighteenth-century Venice.In 1775 Venice–known to outsiders as “the brothel of Europe”–the tradition of ma
Francesca’s father is a well-known painter in the bustling port city of Amsterdam; he is also a gambler. Though their household is in economic chaos, thankfully the lessons she learned in his studio h
On a May morning in 1664, in the small village of Versailles, as hundreds of young aristocrats are coming to pay court to King Louis XIV, a peasant fan-maker gives birth to her first and only child, M
