The Miracles of Prato (33 page)

Our agent, Marly Rusoff, provided unwavering enthusiasm and insights that were crucial to the completion of this novel, as was the support of Michael Radulescu. We were fortunate to work with an editor as smart and enthusiastic as Jennifer Brehl, who made the book better than it was before. We are especially grateful for Mary Schuck's stunning jacket design, and for the support of Lisa Gallagher, Ben Bruton, and Sharyn Rosenblum at William Morrow. In Prato, we had the gracious help of Claudio Cerretelli, Simona Biagianti, Odette Pagliai, and Paolo Saccoman. Daniel G. Van Slyke, associate professor of church history at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, patiently answered our many questions.

The opportunity for us to write this novel together was nothing short of miraculous. These pages spring from a friendship that goes beyond words, to shared bonds that stretch from the mystical to the mundane. We are each blessed by the love of a kindred spirit who made this collaboration an enriching, life-affirming journey.

 

Professor Michael Mallory of Brooklyn College first introduced me to the art of Fra Filippo Lippi, and my professors at the Institute of Fine Arts instilled in me my knowledge of art history and my faith in myself as a writer on art. My husband, Eric Schechter, gave me endless support, and, despite being of Eastern European Jewish descent, is the finest Italian cook I have ever met. My daughters Isabelle,
Olivia, and Anais sweeten the pot, always. I thank all of the following for their support and their friendship, which in ways large and small also helped to make this novel possible: Alison Smith, Monica Taylor, Pilar Lopez, Katica Urbanc, Neil and Kerry Metzger, Laura Berman, Mark Fortgang, Lisa Rafanelli, Françoise Lucbert, Barbara Larson, Robert Steinmuller, and Marilyn Morowitz.

—Laura Morowitz

 

My life is peopled with friends and relatives whose words, wisdom, vision, and creativity are daily nourishment. Writers (and readers) Emily Rosenblum, Toni Martin, and Anne Mernin gave me ongoing support and encouragement, and Nadine Billard never turned away my phone calls, no matter how dithering. My children, John and Melissa, have become expert at blocking all communications to my third-floor office when I am working, and I'm forever grateful for their love and respect. The grace that my dear friends Kathleen Tully and Matt Stolwyk each brought to their careful readings of the manuscript is a testament to their generous spirits. Thanks also to the many publishing people and teachers who have helped me along the way, especially Larry Ashmead, Jennifer Sheridan, Tavia Kowalchuk, Lisa Amoroso, Margo Sage-El and the staff at Watchung Booksellers, Jed Rosen, and Jagadisha, whose yoga studio is the most pleasant 105-degree room I have ever visited. My sisters and extended family, especially Donna, Linda, John, Paula, Andrea, and my mother-in-law, Rosemarie Helm, are ballast for my creative flights. And Frank, my husband, is a true gentleman who makes all things possible for me.

—Laurie Lico Albanese

This is a work of fiction inspired by historical and biographical events, and we referred to many published materials for information about quattrocento Italian society and culture, and the life and work of Fra Filippo Lippi. Although we relied heavily on the following sources, any mistakes or inaccuracies are our own, and are the product of artistic liberties taken for the harmony and integrity of the novel.

For detailed information on Fra Filippo Lippi, we returned many times to the works of two American art historians: Jeffrey Ruda,
Fra Filippo Lippi: Life and Work
(London: Phaidon, 1993) and Megan Holmes,
Fra Filippo Lippi the Carmelite Painter
(New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1999). Two Italian texts dedicated to the fresco series in Prato were of great use to us: Mario Salmi,
Gli affreschi nel Duomo del Prato
(Bergamo: Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche, 1944) and
I Lippi a Prato
(Prato: Museo Civico, 1994).

Excellent introductions to the context and style of fifteenth-century Italian art are found in Frederick Hartt,
History of Italian Renaissance Art
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1976) and Evelyn Welch,
Art in Renaissance Italy
1350–1500 (London: Oxford History of Art, 2001). Michael Baxandall's
Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972) remains the fundamental text on the way in which works functioned in Lippi's day.

Colorful primary sources such as Giorgio Vasari's
Lives of the Most Emminent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects,
trans. Gaston du C. de Vère
(New York: AMS Press, 1976; first published in Rome, 1550) and Iris Origo,
The Merchant of Prato: Francesco di Marco Datini
1335–1410 (Boston: David R. Godine Publisher, 1986) helped bring the world of Renaissance Prato and Florence to life. The texture and details of many scenes in our novel benefited from the excellent information available in works on the daily life of Renaissance Italy including Elisabeth S. Cohen and Thomas V. Cohen,
Daily Life in Renaissance Italy
(London/Westport: Greenport Press, 2001); Christiane Klapish-Zuber,
Women, Family, and Ritual in Renaissance Italy
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985); and Jacqueline Marie Musacchio,
The Art and Ritual of Childbirth in Renaissance Italy
(New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1999). Information on herbs and herbal remedies was drawn primarily from the Internet source www.botanical.com.

Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement

About 1435–1436

Panel, 122.6 x 62.8 cm.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

The Barbadori Altarpiece

Begun 1437; finished c. 1439

Panel, 208 x 244 cm.

Musée du Louvre, Paris

 

The Coronation of the Virgin
(the Maringhi Coronation)

1439–1447

Panel, 200 x 287 cm.

Uffizi, Florence

 

The Annunciation

Late 1430s–1440

Panel, 175 x 183 cm.

San Lorenzo, Florence

 

The Madonna del Ceppo
(Madonna and Child with Saint Stephen, Saint John the Baptist, Francesco di Marco Datini, and Four Buonomini of the Hospital of the Ceppo of Prato)

1453

Panel, 187 x 120 cm.

Galleria Communale di Palazzo Pretario, Prato

 

Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Michael, side wings of the now lost
Adoration
triptych for King Alfonso of Naples

1456–1458

Masonite (transferred from panel), each 81.3 x 29.8 cm.

Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

 

The Death of Saint Jerome

Early to mid 1450s

Panel, 268 x 165 cm.

Cathedral of Santo Stefano, Prato

 

The Madonna della Cintola with Saints Margaret, Gregory, Augustine, and Raphael with Tobias

Late 1455 to mid 1460s

Panel, 191 x 187 cm.

Galleria Communale di Palazzo Pretario, Prato

 

Lives of Saints Stephen and John

1452–1465

Frescoes

Main chapel, Cathedral of Santo Stefano, Prato

 

All other works in the novel are the invention of the authors.

Jacket design by Mary Schuck

Jacket photograph © The Bridgeman Art Library

Jacket painting: The Madonna of the Sacred Girdle by Fra Filippo Lippi © Museo Civico, Prato, Italy/The Bridgeman Art Library