The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped

The Renaissance was a child of many fathersnone more important than the three iconic figures whose intersecting lives provide the basis for this astonishing work of narrative history: Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesar Borgia. Each could not have been more different. They would meet only for a short time in 1502 but the events that transpired, would significantly alter their perceptionsand the course of Western history. In 1502, Italy was riven by conflict, with the city of Florence as the ultimate prize. Machiavelli, the consummate political manipulator, attempted to placate the savage Borgia by volunteering the services of Da Vinci as Borgia's chief military engineer. That autumn, the three men embarked together on a brief, perilous, and fateful journey through the mountains, remote villages and hill towns of the Italian Romagnathe details of which were revealed in Machiavelli'soften-daily dispatches and Da Vinci's meticulous notebooks. In a book that is at once a gripping adventure story and a trenchant analysis of how men make history,The Artist, the Philosopher and the Warriorlimns each man's personality, their interactions, and the forces that shaped their world. Superbly written, meticulously researched, here is a work of narrative geniuswhose subject is the very nature of genius itself.

Paul Strathern has lectured in philosophy and mathematics and is a Somerset Maugham Prize–winning novelist. He is the author of two series—Philosophers in 90 Minutes and The Big Idea: Scientists Who Changed the World—Napoleon in Egypt, and the Sunday Times bestseller The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance. He lives in London.


From the Hardcover edition.