Oil and Marble: A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo

Oil and Marble is, as the title suggests, a novel about artistic rivalry. The narrative centers on the intense rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo, yet the novel’s setting shows how theirs isn’t the first artistic rivalry in Renaissance Florence, a city that prided itself on artistic expression. For example, the competition to design the doors of the Florence baptistry led to Ghiberti’s designing the Gates of Paradise, yet more consequential was how this competition ignited a lifelong rivalry between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi. Later, when the city held a competition to design the dome for the cathedral opposite the baptistry, Ghiberti again came up against Brunelleschi. This time, Brunelleschi triumphed, and he reshaped the Florentine skyline as well as how people thought about architecture. The competition fueled the men to literally reach heights previously considered impossible.

The rivalry between Leonardo and Michelangelo is set in the shadow of this history of fruitful artistic rivalry. Both artists not only visit Brunelleschi and Ghiberti’s creations but are explicitly aware of the folklore surrounding the competition between the two men. That a rivalry should profit both artists, then, is a fixed part of the Florentine national mythos.