Word: urbino
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...generosity and whimsy. Alfonso the Magnanimous of Naples, for instance, was a king so loved that he could walk the streets of his capital without an escort -during a century when neighboring Rome reached a reported average of 14 murders a day. Gentle Guidobaldo da Montefeltro of Urbino liked to ride through his duchy with a band of trumpeters, drummers and Italian bagpipers spreading harmony as he went...
Next, a gang of thieves try to bully Fidelman into art forgery. He proves to be possibly the first copyist in the world with painter's block. But when he finally does manage to complete a counterfeit of Titian's Venus of Urbino, he likes the fake so much that he steals it back from the thieves in preference to the real thing. Skillfully Malamud somehow turns this gesture into a superbly comic act of integrity...