The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior

June 29, 2009
Despite the convoluted title, this latest from award-winning British novelist and historian Strathern (Napoleon in Italy
) is simply a good, straightforward history of Renaissance Italy during the turbulent decade around 1500, with emphasis on several important players. Pope Alexander VI, though not in the title, is the central player. Famously corrupt and ambitious, Alexander aimed to enlarge the Papal States and his family's influence, and his son, Cesare Borgia, led papal armies in three cruelly successful campaigns. The leading diplomat of wealthy but feeble Florence, Machiavelli worked hard to fend off Borgia, but admired his brutal realism, portraying him as the ideal ruler in his classic, The Prince.
Both men knew Leonardo da Vinci, and Borgia employed him as a military engineer. However, da Vinci exerted no political influence, so the author's digressions into his art and ingenious (but mostly unrealized) inventions stand apart from the narrative. Readers will reel at this meticulous popular account of Renaissance tyranny, corruption, injustice and atrocities. 8 pages of color illus., b&w illus., maps.

July 1, 2009
Historian Strathern (Napoleon in Egypt, 2008, etc.) explores the decisive influence of a ruthless Renaissance prince on both a diplomat and an artist.

Amid the shifting alliances and vulnerable kingdoms of 15th-century Italy, Cesare Borgia (1475–1507), the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, assumed unchecked power at a young age when his father put him at the head of the warring papal forces. Aided by the invading army of France's Louis XII, Borgia was urged by his father to carve out his own power base in Romagna, and by 1500 he had duly subdued it, along with Urbino and other city states. Florence bordered this region and was essentially defenseless, so able negotiator Niccolœ Machiavelli was sent as part of a three-man delegation to press for Florence's protection. Up close, Machiavelli could observe this exemplary warrior, known for his treachery, depravity and brilliance, and the diplomat later made Borgia the subject of The Prince. As part of his effort to appease the rapacious ruler, Machiavelli offered the services of Florentine native Leonardo da Vinci, an expert military engineer as well as celebrated painter and designer. During the next eight months, da Vinci toured Borgia's fortifications and suggested improvements, as evidenced by the notebook sketches reproduced here. At the same time, the artist/humanist was digesting the moral ramifications of aiding Borgia's military engine and finding them deeply repugnant. Meanwhile, Machiavelli was using the experience derived from diplomatic duties in the service of purely self-interested rulers like Borgia to set forth a new"science" of statecraft. Both artist and philosopher were irreparably marked by personal contact with"humanity's evil nature," argues Strathern in this rigorous and scholarly yet readable study of the confluence of three major Renaissance figures.

Accessible and impressive in scope.

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Starred review from June 1, 2009
It will surprise admirers of Leonardo da Vinci that the art of this Renaissance genius reflects the influence of both a ruthless strongman (Cesare Borgia) and a devious diplomat (Machiavelli). Yet by scrutinizing da Vincis fateful conjunction with Borgia and Machiavelli in 1502, Strathern illuminates the subsequent development of the enigmatic painters diverse talents. In particular, readers learn how da Vinci was psychologically scarred when Machiavelli, his fellow Florentine, struck a deal compelling him to enter Borgias service as a military engineer (and into his home citys secret service as a spy). In this psychological trauma, Strathern detects the reason that da Vinci could not complete many of his subsequent scientific and artistic projects. But readers also see how Borgia left a very different mark on Machiavelli, so impressing him with his brutal cunning that he helped inspire The Prince, an epoch-making treatise on political realism. And though Borgia commanded none of da Vincis creative vision or Machiavellis literary acumen, readers will nonetheless feel the attraction of this charming yet treacherous adventurer as he connives to carve a personal domain out of central Italy. As he did so memorably in Napoleon in Egypt (2008), Strathern conjures the dominant personalities of the past with exceptional power.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)