LA LEYENDA NEGRA (LA CREACION DE EVA) (Historica (Ediciones B)) (Spanish… (vuoden 2010 painos)

I loved this book. Usually I'm not a fan of books about royalty, All those royals were related to each other, so I guess it really doesn't make a lot of difference which one you're reading about, but this one is about Spain, Phillip II and Elisabeth, so maybe that made it go down easier. Catherine Medici with her spider web of schemes is in the background for most of it, and she is interesting, but if she were a man with such an unstoppable and Machiavellian lust for power, I don't think I'd find her enticing. What got me interested in the book is that the main character is Sofonisba Anguissola, the first famous woman renaissance painter, and art is a power that truly draws me to it. Alas, there's more romance than I'd like, but so much about art, society, disease, religion, the class system, imports from (our) new world, and daily life that I hadn't known before. (Oh, she ate a tomato. What happened to her?) Also, in describing the heat in Spain, she really gets heat right. Coming from the western US, I know how sticky and debilitating the summer can be, and evidently she does too. She absolutely gets it right. ( )

The world building and story in this book is lush and suspenseful. One literally seems to experience the hot sun of Spain, the dark opulence of the Spanish royal court, and the fear prevalent in everything due to the Inquisition. The author’s research into the time period shows abundantly as she gives the readers an intimate look at this fascinating time. The political intrigue of the royal court and the dangers our characters had to navigate through also me spellbound.

The author does a fantastic job in her general characterization. I liked how the characters never got predictable and two-dimensional. They always surprised me by some twist in motivation and action, some new depth of personality. I was especially interested in Philip. There are so many facets to Philip’s personality and how history views him. He was different things to different people. So it was interesting to get a window into his personal life and see him as a man, husband, and father.

My only gripe and shadow of disappointment I had in this book was the main character. I found I just couldn’t connect with her. She seemed very blah and just boring, to be frank. At times she seemed like just a window through which to explore the time period or the other characters. Some of her background was interesting; I especially liked some of the details on painting and the art world told through her. Yet, her constant obsession with Tiberio and her conspiracy theories got grating.

Overall, I liked the historical details, the political intrigue storyline, and most of the characters. The author definitely knows how to set a scene and make it sing. Yet, her main character definitely needed some juicing up. I was hoping for way more on such an intriguing character as this early Renaissance female painter who was a trailblazer in so many ways. But I think I’ll still be checking out more works by Cullen with all the good stuff in evidence in this book. ( )

Sofonisba was a young, female Italian painter who was briefly tutored under Michelangelo. She became 'the first renowned female artist of the Renaissance,' for early portraits of her family and those of nearby city states in Italy, and was recognized by Michelangelo for her talent. In more recent times, she has been identified as the artist of more important portraits which were originally attributed to other artists because she was not allowed to sign them.

She was hired by King Phillip II to teach his young French bride, Elisabeth, how to paint and to serve as one of her ladies. During this time, though given a relatively secure position, she had little time for painting and could not sign her name anyway because her position with the Queen superseded that of painter.

The late 16th Century was a highly volatile time not only in England where Queen Elizabeth I had a precarious hold on her throne, doing battle with various factions within her realm, the Pope and the European kings, but in Spain as well. King Phillip's control of the Netherlands and factions within his own lands, plus the high cost of maintaining armies and navies in the field were near ruinous. Also, his sole male heir was clearly unbalanced and finally had to be locked away. ( )

This historical fiction title was an interesting read on the little known life of Sofonisba Anguissola , the first famous woman Renaissance painter. Cullen weaves an interesting tale which starts with the main character studying under the master himself, Michelangelo. After fleeing Rome, the artist is summoned by King Philip of Spain to take a position as a lady-in-waiting and personal painting instructor to his new bride, Queen Elisabeth. Giving us a taste of life during the Spanish Inquisition and the usual political intrigue of a royal court, Cullen has constructed a compelling tale. ( )

A fictionalized account of the life of Renaissance painter Sofinisba Anguissola, this book chronicles the time Anguissola spent as a lady-in-waiting to Elisabeth de Valois, queen of Spain. At the Spanish court Sofi encounters an entirely different world. Learning to navigate court culture while dreaming about the relationship she left behind in Rome envelop Sofi's time. She becomes one of the queen's favorites, a position that offers little but complexity and danger. Cullen's historical presentation is believable, though I found the beginning of the book to be somewhat slow-going. In part, this is because the first portion of the book, set in Italy, has little bearing on the major thrust of the plot. I found the court setting of the book somewhat difficult to engage. I've read little of the voluminous historical fiction on the kings and queens of Europe, so I suspect that for others more deeply read in the genre, this will not be an issue. This is more my issue than Cullen's, I simply don't find the court setting inherently interesting. My preferences aside, I did get deeper into the story. Cullen's writing is good, though I did find the ending, and the consequences of one final dramatic action, to be wholly unbelievable. ( )