Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo

Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet Michelangelo Buonarroti is widely regarded as one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. In Oil and Marble, however, Michelangelo appears as a young man on the cusp of greatness. Whereas the older Michelangelo would be known as the consummate Renaissance Man, a master of many different media, the young Michelangelo is devoted entirely to sculpture. He’s obsessed with marble, which he considers the purest art form. In this respect, the novel presents him as the counterpoint to the older, more established Leonardo. Whereas Leonardo is known throughout Italy as a man who can turn his mastery to any medium, Michelangelo is so desperate for people to know his name that he feels compelled to carve his signature into his Pieta statue. Similarly, he contrasts with Leonardo in many ways. The charming, wealthy, well-dressed Leonardo seems to belong to the aristocracy, whereas Michelangelo is always unwashed, grimy, and in need of money. He envies not only Leonardo’s talent but his social skills. Michelangelo is so devoted to his art that he hurls himself unrelentingly into his projects. He’s often covered in stone dust, and his hands are calloused, evidence of his physical commitment to his art form.

Unlike Leonardo, a scientist seeking to uncover the hidden mechanisms of the universe, Michelangelo is a born romantic. Leonardo sees the competition for the Duccio Stone as an opportunity to raise his profile and bolster his celebrity, whereas Michelangelo views the commission as his destiny. This romanticized view of stone carving is both a blessing and a curse for Michelangelo. His romantic view of his art imbues him with the frenzied passion that fuels his creativity. At the same time, however, he has an overly sentimental view of the creative process, as is evident when he spends months staring at the block, waiting for the stone to speak to him in a moment of inspiration. Leonardo may be famous for never finishing his projects, but Michelangelo is in danger of never starting his most famous work.

The pressure to create comes not only from Michelangelo himself but also from his city and his family. His father doesn’t share Michelangelo’s romantic view of sculpture as the most beautiful art form; Lodovico views sculpture as a working-class pursuit, dismissing his son’s work as that of a stonecutter. He never takes his son seriously, so Michelangelo feels a need to create not only something beautiful but something that will change his father’s view of sculpture. Similarly, Soderini warns Michelangelo that the people of Florence are in danger of losing their civic pride. Michelangelo realizes that his statue must become a symbol of his beloved city, representing the mindset of an entire people. In each instance, Michelangelo places more pressure on himself to create a masterpiece.

Michelangelo needs the David statue to be beautiful. He must prove to Leonardo and the entire world that he’s a worthy sculptor and prove to his father that sculpture is an art form. His drive and passion are evident in the effect that the carving has on his body. By the time he finishes, his body is a wreck. His sight is permanently damaged, his nails are destroyed, and his physical stature has declined. Leonardo recognizes this compete devotion to art as Michelangelo’s greatest skill. He envies Michelangelo’s ability to give himself entirely to an art form. At the end of the novel, Leonardo shows his respect by wordlessly gesturing to Michelangelo and indicating his intent to sketch the statue, treating it as a work that can teach him something. From a master like Leonardo, this is the greatest moment of catharsis Michelangelo could achieve. Whereas he envies Leonardo’s ability to remove himself entirely from a painting and to achieve an objective distance, the David is a success because it’s so quintessentially Michelangelo. When it’s loved, so too is Michelangelo.

Oil and Marble explores the personal relationship that led to the creation of one of the most famous artworks in world history. The woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is widely believed to be Lisa Gherardini, a woman from Florence, Italy. She was the wife of a wealthy merchant named Francesco del Giocondo, which is why the painting is also known as La Gioconda. While alternative theories have been proposed over the years, most art historians agree that Lisa Gherardini is the most likely subject.

In the novel, Mona Lisa is a wife and a mother who enchants Leonardo through her capacity to see beyond the public persona that he meticulously crafts for his protection. Whereas others praise him for his paintings and his inventions, she’s the only one who explicitly speaks of his desire to fly. She mentions this to him the first time they meet, and her comments captivate him. For a man who spends so much time trying to figure out how the world works, the idea that this mysterious woman could peer so deeply into his soul troubles him. He doesn’t know how Mona Lisa could understand him. Later, she reveals that she simply saw sketches of wings in his studio. She empathized with his desire to fly, to escape, and to be unencumbered by the weight of the world. Her gift, Leonardo realizes, is that of empathy, which is why he becomes so fascinated by her.

The relationship between Mona Lisa and Leonardo gestures toward romance, but they never act on their feelings. His reputation as a romantic figure makes Mona Lisa even more wary of him and insistent about not betraying her responsibilities as a mother and a wife, not wanting to facilitate the rumors that follow the artist everywhere. Nevertheless, she’s more candid and open with him than she ever appears to be with her husband. She confesses to Leonardo that she wishes those around her considered her worthy of attention as herself, rather than as merely the wife of a wealthy merchant. This becomes Leonardo’s gift to her: He strips away the typical ornaments of portraiture, even using his technical mastery to hide his brushstrokes. He seeks to portray her soul and show her exactly as she is, centering her existence in a way that she has never experienced. His understanding her in this way and making this gift to her mirrors her understanding of his desire to fly. That they understand each other so well suggests that their relationship is more profound than a romance. In each other, they find deep meaning, yet they can’t be together. Their shared understanding is bittersweet, but they savor it.