Standing on a ridge of the Bavarian Alps, the Renaissance’s greatest woodcut artist, Albrecht Dürer, is torn between responsibility and infatuation. Below him lie Venice and the vibrant woman he just met. Ahead of him is Nuremberg, where he and his wife make their home.

If you want to find out how Dürer resolves his problem and at the same time learn about art, history, and interesting locations, I invite you to read Across the Alps.

(Book available through Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com.)

I viewed the artwork of Dalia who was a student in the art history class at College Of DuPage when I gave a presentation about “Duccio and the Maestà.” Dalia is an accomplished painter and lover of art.

This girl named Meme reads all the time and loves to write things down.  I spoke with an art history class at College of DuPage about “Duccio and the Maestà,” and the girl’s mother who was in the class asked me to meet with her daughter.  Young Meme is quite a motivated, intelligent girl who likes to learn.

                                 Duccio’s Maestà

from Dürer’s Life of the Virgin series

I attended the Conference this weekend, and, to use a trite phrase, it was “fabulous.”

Kudos to all who planned it and to the agents, publishers, authors, and even the tax accountant who gave us writers a wealth of information and inspiration.

Here are a pen and ink drawing and an engraving that Dürer had made into prints.Hurray to the first mass marketers!

There was a nice turnout for my library presentation about Duccio and the Maestà. The attendees seemed to enjoy the powerpoint with my large color slides of Duccio’s artwork and the beauties of Siena. Some had already visited or were planning to visit Siena, but all were art lovers and fiction readers. Thanks to everyone who attended

At the age of 24, Dürer thought he had found BEAUTY at the Venetian Piazza of San Marco’s Cathedral shown below. This tainted his impression of his home city Nuremburg which he felt only called him to DUTY.  Upon hiking back to Nuremberg over the Alps, he felt distressed about what he left behind but eager to pursue his artwork again in Nuremburg.   This is a historic fiction novel leaving you to wonder how it will all turn out for this conflicted man with whom many of us can identify.

Albrecht Dürer traveled over the Alps on foot and horseback two times to go to Venice to study art and later to find a man who was forging his art as well as to look for what he was missing in Nuremberg.  The trip was 440 miles one way from Nuremberg to Venice. Can you imagine hiking and riding a horse that distance over the Alps?  These are pictures from my trip to the Alps in the spring.  I envision the path in the top picture being like one that Dürer followed.