I did find it a little hard to get immersed in the story, but once I changed my mindset from worrying about what is fact and what is fiction to one of simply listening to and enjoying the story for what it is, (fiction loosely based on fact) I really got into it and enjoyed it. What I found were some wonderful reviews written by some very enthusiastic and seemingly knowledgeable art lovers, so, as one who knows very little about art, my review will be from a very non-arty-type point of view. Review I rarely read book reviews until after I have read the book and posted my own, but in this case I made an exception because the genre is so far outside of that which I usually read. Storey brings early 16th-century Florence alive and has entered with extraordinary empathy into the minds and souls of two Renaissance masters.

Oil and Marble is the story of their nearly forgotten rivalry. Michelangelo both loathes and worships Leonardo's genius. Leonardo despises Michelangelo for his youth and lack of sophistication. Her name is Lisa, and she becomes his muse. Meanwhile, Leonardo's life is falling apart: He loses the hoped-for David commission he can't seem to finish any project he is obsessed with his ungainly flying machine he almost dies in war his engineering designs disastrously fail and he is haunted by a woman he has seen in the market - a merchant's wife, whom he is finally commissioned to paint. Working against an impossible deadline, he begins his feverish carving.

Living at the foot of his misshapen block of marble, Michelangelo struggles until the stone finally begins to speak. Even though his impoverished family shuns him for being an artist, he is desperate to support them. Michelangelo is a virtual unknown when he returns to Florence and wins the commission to carve what will become one of the most famous sculptures of all time: David.

Michelangelo was a temperamental sculptor in his mid-20s, desperate to make a name for himself. Leonardo was a charming, handsome 50-year-old at the peak of his career. From 1501 to 1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti both lived and worked in Florence.

Oil and Marble by Stephanie Storey