Ross King

In 1508, despite strong advice to the contrary, the powerful Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo....

Part of the acclaimed Eminent Lives series, Machiavelli is a superb portrait of the brilliant and revolutionary political philosopher—history’s most famous theorist of “warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed”—and the age he embodied. Ross King, the New York Times bestselling author of...

In 1495, Leonardo da Vinci began what would become one of history’s most influential works of art—The Last Supper.

While the Civil War raged in America, another very different revolution was beginning to take shape across the Atlantic, in the studios of Paris....

Brunelleschi's Dome is the story of how a Renaissance genius bent men, materials, and the very forces of nature to build an architectural wonder we continue to marvel at today. Denounced at first as a madman, Brunelleschi was celebrated at the end as a genius....

A concise, star-studded retelling of Italy's past, from Caesar and Augustus to da Vinci and Michelangelo, tracing the story of a country with prodigious global influence—from a foremost author of historic Italy.

The Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings - the handiwork of the city's artists and architects. But equally important were geniuses of a different sort: Florence's manuscript hunters, scribes, scholars, and booksellers....

We have all seen, whether live, in photographs or on postcards, some of Claude Monet's legendary water lily paintings....

Ancient Rome gave rise to the Roman Empire, one of history's greatest civilizations. It flourished for roughly five hundred years and, at its height, made up at least twenty percent of the world's population.

While the Civil War raged in America, another very different revolution was beginning to take shape across the Atlantic, in the studios of Paris: The artists who would make Impressionism the most popular art form in history were showing their first paintings amidst scorn and derision from the...

George Cautley, a hapless young artist trying to make his way in the gilded world of 1770s London, paints Lady Beauclair's portrait while she tells him the scandalous story of Tristano....