His Last Duchess by Gabrielle Kimm

Author:Gabrielle Kimm
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-20T22:00:00+00:00

19

Jacomo picked up another blanket and draped it around Lucrezia’s bare shoulders. Hutching another around his own, he sat down on the end of the bed, his face dramatically underlit by the wobbling candle flames. He took Lucrezia’s hand.

“Pandolf is a great painter—well, he was,” Jacomo said, “before his sight started to fail. He’s taught me a great deal.”

“But—”

“It’s not as simple as it seems. I’ll try to explain. I was apprenticed to Pandolf three years ago by my father. I think Papa was ambitious for me, but he had no money to pay for a formal apprenticeship—he’s just a fisherman. It had taken him a long time to get over his disappointment that I was never going to follow in the family tradition—God!—we had any number of terrible arguments about it—but in the end, he gave in. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it started to dawn on him that if I made a name for myself as an artist, it might actually mean some money coming into the family, potentially far, far more than he and the rest of them could ever make with the nets.”

Jacomo saw a crease pucker between Lucrezia’s brows.

He said, “I think he chose Pandolf partly because of his reputation, but also because of the fact that he was a friar. Pandolf waived the normal apprenticeship fees, out of some sort of charitable instinct, perhaps, and took me on, on the understanding that I’d stay with him, for nothing, for as long as he thought I could be useful to him. He’d feed me, clothe me, teach me, provide me with materials, but no more than that. Papa was worried about the stories he had heard about artists, as well—their reputation for licentiousness and debauchery.” Jacomo laid a heavy emphasis on the last three words, and his mouth twisted into a wry smile. “I think he hoped that being in the care of a religious order would keep me under some sort of control, stop me learning bad habits and behaving badly.”

He leaned towards Lucrezia and kissed her mouth. “That part of it hasn’t quite worked, really, has it?”

She smiled at him, and he said, “The original plan was for me to learn with Pandolf until he and I both felt I was capable of undertaking major commissions myself, at which point, we agreed, I’d move on and begin work as an artist in my own right. Pandolf suggested I might like to contribute some of my first earnings to the friary, a sort of charitable donation if you like. I was quite happy with this idea, and we were both set to work towards it—but then it all went wrong because of Pandolf’s eyes.”

“What do you mean?” Lucrezia said. She pulled the blanket more snugly over her shoulders, tucking it around her legs.

Jacomo paused, choosing his words carefully. “It seems that, despite his appearance of Franciscan humility, the reverend brother has a distinctly worldly streak of pride in him. I don’t think he has ever confessed it, either.

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