Meeting Donatello
In a realm of clandestine gatherings and whispered passions, one man confronts his own reflections.
Among Artists and Admirers,
A Soldier Finds Himself Sculpted by Fate
UPON AN AUTUMN TWILIGHT IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY FIORENZA, RENZO,
The great sculptor welcomes him into the fold, whereupon he must needs reckon with a truth long left unspoken. Though trained for the clash of swords, he is unarmed for the battle of glances and words waged in this rarefied sphere. This is no ordinary gathering. No women are present, and the nature of the evening’s revelry is steeped in hushed understandings. A sense of belonging, elusive yet tantalizing, beckons to him.
The evening becomes dreamlike as Maestro Donato sees the ideal of classical beauty in Marco’s form, a living embodiment of the figures he has so often sought to capture in marble and bronze. Unaccustomed to such overt attention, Marco struggles between humility and the heady allure of being seen—truly seen—for what he is, not merely as a soldier but as something more. It is a revelation both thrilling and unsettling.
By the time the night wanes from art and philosophy to veiled confessions, no longer is he merely an observer but bound to a hidden brotherhood, caught between duty and desire, between the rigid expectations of his station and the intoxicating domain he has entered.
In Meeting Donatello, a prequel to the Renaissance-set novel A Tale of Paris & Paris: Echoes of Troy, the reader is drawn into a world where art and longing are as perilous as they are beguiling, and where a single evening holds the power to shape a man’s destiny. When Renzo returns home to Cortona, he shall not be the same.
Author’s Note
AS THE EPICENTER OF RADICAL HUMANISM AND ARTISTIC ENLIGHTENMENT, FLORENCE BECAME THE PARAMOUNT CRUCIBLE OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. Independent thinkers broke free from the constraints of the preceding millennium. Against this backdrop, the following tale gives voice to the long-suppressed desires and identities of those who suffered the dominant assumption that heterosexuality is the default and most ‘normal’ form of sexuality and gender.
To that effect, Meeting Donatello is a work of historical fiction that transports the reader into the clandestine world of a homosexual gathering of influential Florentine men convened to honor the legendary sculptor. It deals frankly and unapologetically with themes of homoeroticism and alternative sexual orientation. At the heart of the narrative, the protagonist finds himself drawn into this hidden com-munity, confronted with the temptations and challenges of reconciling his longings within the constraints of social norms.
In my formative years of reading classic literature in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, I never encountered a homosexual love story. Did anyone, for that matter? How I pined for a novel that told of Patroclus and Achilles beyond what Homer wrote, or a Shakespearean play in which Odysseus endured hardships to return to a male lover, or a tale of Diana’s lyrical affair with a nymph like Daphne.
Since ancient times, ruling powers across societies have sought to erase us from mainstream cultural life, denying our existence—and they have largely succeeded. To this day, LGBTQ+ people face severe punishments, including death, in many regions of the world. Erasing us from literature is merely another act in this campaign. Yet the historical record remains incomplete. Centuries later, the truth resurfaces: we were always here, shaping the world as it unfolded.
What would English literature be without Oscar Wilde and Radclyffe Hall? The latter has yet to receive full recognition, but does anyone question the nature of Dorian Gray’s relationship with Basil Hallward? Imagine how much more we would have gained if censorship had not curtailed the author’s genius.
This is where I step in, writing in the 21st century, at a time and place where I may speak freely. In Meeting Donatello, I will expose you to period-evocative prose that grapples with timeless questions of identity, desire, and the search for life’s meaning. The language used throughout is authentic to the Renaissance, incorporating archaisms, Middle English cadences, and time-forgotten vocabulary that lies dormant in our collective mind.
Meeting Donatello continues my literary revisionist quest, reclaiming the classic canon by restoring marginalized voices cast into obscurity. These voices will challenge your conceptions and linger in your thoughts long after the last word fades.
Rio de Janeiro, Winter of MMXXV