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  • The Second Mrs. Gioconda by E. L. Konigsburg book cover
  • The Second Mrs. Gioconda by E. L. Konigsburg book cover
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The Second Mrs. Gioconda

by E. L. Konigsburg

A Renaissance mystery around the Mona Lisa

$12.97 USD
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Awards & Recognition

  • Author recognition

    Newbery Medal-winning author

    The credited author is described as a Newbery Medal-winning author for From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. ...

AlbakiReads Editorial

A Renaissance mystery around the Mona Lisa

Set in Renaissance Italy, the novel turns the questions surrounding Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa into a work of historical fiction. Its central figures include Leonardo, his unruly apprentice Salai, and Beatrice d’Este, the young wife of the Duke of Milan. The painting’s subject and the artist’s choice to spend years on it provide the mystery’s historical point of departure, while Salai’s clashes with aristocratic authority add a second strand to the story. The book uses these real historical names and an enduring art-history puzzle as the frame for an imagined account; it does not present its explanation as established fact.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Middle-grade readers interested in Renaissance history and historical fiction
  • Readers curious about Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa, and art-history mysteries
  • Readers who enjoy stories featuring a mischievous young apprentice

Themes

Renaissance ItalyArt and historical mysteryApprenticeshipSocial hierarchy and defiance

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Leonardo da Vinci's irreverent young apprentice delights in mischief and defying the aristocracy in thishistorical fiction middle grade novel from E.L. Konigsburg, the Newbery Medal-winning author of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

The mystery of the "Mona Lisa!"

Why did Leonardo da Vinci, the greatest artist of his time, devote three years on a painting of the second wife of an unimportant merchant when all the nobles of Europe were begging for a portrait by him? And why did he put up with an apprentice who was a liar and a thief?

No one knows for sure. But this story of Leonardo, his wayward apprentice Salai, and the Duke of Milan's plain young wife, Beatrice d'Este, may hold the clue to the most famous--and puzzling--painting of all time.
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