Ross King Books in Order

In eighteenth-century London, aspiring painter George Cautley encounters stories of an Italian opera singer and a circle of artists and lovers. As portraits and recollections expose old tragedies, his own desires become entangled with the lives he is depicting.

Filippo Brunelleschi undertakes the seemingly impossible task of constructing Florence's cathedral dome. Ross King follows the engineering innovations, political rivalries, practical obstacles, and upheavals that surrounded a building project destined to reshape Renaissance architecture and the city's skyline.

Reluctant sculptor Michelangelo accepts Pope Julius II's commission to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling despite his limited experience with fresco. Four demanding years unfold amid technical challenges, artistic rivalry, papal politics, and war in Renaissance Italy.

Ross King follows Niccolò Machiavelli's life as a Florentine diplomat, political thinker, and writer during an era of shifting alliances and violent upheaval. His career and reversals illuminate the circumstances behind The Prince and its controversial understanding of power.

In 1490s Milan, Leonardo da Vinci receives a commission to paint a monastery's dining hall while struggling with unfinished projects and uncertain patronage. King explores the creation of The Last Supper through its artistic experiments, religious setting, and turbulent politics.

Nearly two thousand paintings and frescoes form a survey of Florence's museums, palaces, and churches. Ross King's historical essays connect artistic patronage and city life, while Anja Grebe examines individual masterpieces and the artists who created them.

During his final years at Giverny, Claude Monet struggles with bereavement, failing eyesight, and the destruction of the First World War. His determination to continue painting transforms his garden's water lilies into an ambitious late artistic project.

Florentine bookseller Vespasiano da Bisticci supplies handwritten volumes to Renaissance scholars and powerful patrons, helping build libraries and spread knowledge. His career reveals the craftsmanship and intellectual networks of manuscript culture as printing begins to transform the book trade.

Ross King traces Italy's history from ancient Rome through competing medieval cities, Renaissance achievements, unification, and modern upheaval. Art, religion, warfare, and political struggle reveal how a divided peninsula developed a national identity and lasting cultural influence.