The Colour Storm: The compelling and spellbinding story of art and betrayal in Renaissance Venice

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In an attempt to win Fugger’s favour, Zorzo agrees to paint a portrait of his wife, Sybille – but as he becomes closer to Sybille, he finds that he has become involved in a conspiracy which could have huge implications for the people of Europe. Most important is that the surface has some ability to absorb the paint as lime wash paints always look for a surface it can penetrate into. DD: Yes, almost every scene is a colour, often reflected in what colour the character Sybille is wearing. He scores a commission with the proprietor of this fabled colour to paint his wife and plans on using this ‘foot in the door’ opportunity to secure the colour for himself. Zorzo is absorbed in his work painting Sybille the foreign wife of a wealthy man who holds the secret to a new color pigment that can raise Zorzo above all the other grand artists while conspiracy swirls around him and the plague approaches Venice.

I've not read anything by Damian Dibben before, but this was one of those books that after a few pages, you know you're in the hands of a very accomplished author. I don’t often wish for more pages but I think this is a time when they could have been put to good use. A story filled with intrigue and secrets as well as colour, Damian Dibben's new novel is filled with vivid descriptions .It was Giorgione’s innovative use of colour, texture and subject matter which his pupil Titian developed further, going on to be remembered as Venice’s most celebrated painter.

The characterisation of Sybille: she was made to be so unlikeable, so mercurial, so detached from lucidity that it was hard to fully understand Zorzo's love for her. Another thing that I want to mention is how surprised I was by some of the plot twists of the story. The visceral descriptive passages, the ambition of the protagonists, and the deeply visual rendering of Venice during the Renaissance are simply sublime. The descriptions of the often stark world of the artist and those who apprenticed in the artist’s studio, the intrigue both political and personal surrounding the wealthy patrons and the artists in their sphere, and of course the personal relationships and characters who peopled The Color Storm particularly Zorzo. As the water levels rise and the plague creeps ever closer, an increasingly desperate Zorzo isn't sure whom he can trust .Throughout the writing, Damian goes to exceptional efforts to describe the effects of colour in Renaissance life and painting in ‘The Colour Storm’. Atmospheric and suspenseful, The Colour Storm is an intoxicating story of art and ambition, love and obsession in Renaissance Venice . The protagonist, the real painter Giorgione, is told of a new pigment which could revolutionise painting and he is eager to track it down. You are never in doubt of Zorzo’s best intentions – he has been written very strongly as a character and for me the most fascinating and absorbing moments are when he is talking to his apprentices abut his work and what he expects them to do.

A self-made woman in 16th century Italy with her own growing business, how could I not admire and love that.Atmospheric and suspenseful, and filled with the famous artists of the era, The Colour Storm is an intoxicating story of art and ambition, love and obsession in Renaissance Venice. I was totally absorbed into the world of Titian, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Bellini and so many more of the artists all competing for commissions at the same time in early 1500s Venice, but the hero of this compelling book is the lesser-known artist Giorgione. As the water levels rise and the plague creeps ever closer, an increasingly desperate Zorzo isn't sure whom he can trust.

But, on the other side of this, it is very rich in atmosphere and tone that keeps you wanting to read more as the situation Zorzo finds himself caught up in reaches its climax. I'm not sure non-art fans will make it through the first 250 pages, which should have been half the length.If you are painting natural surfaces such as render or brick our paints are wonderfully durable as they are absorbed into the wall. Instead he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that stretches across Europe and a marriage coming apart inside one of the city's most illustrious palazzos .