Laurent Binet was a literature teacher for ten years in Seine-Saint-Denis. He is the author of HHhH (2010, Goncourt Prize for the first novel), The seventh function of language (2015, Interallié prize), Civilizations (2019, Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française).
“Florence, 1557. The painter Pontormo is found murdered at the foot of the frescoes on which he had been working for eleven years. A painting has been disguised. A crime of lèse-majesté has been committed. Vasari, the Duke of Florence’s handyman , is in charge of the investigation. To assist him from a distance, he turns to the old Michelangelo exiled in Rome.
The situation demands discretion, loyalty, artistic sensitivity and political sense. Europe is a powder keg. Cosimo de Medici must face the desires of his cousin Catherine, Queen of France, allied with his old enemy, the republican Piero Strozzi. The city’s convents are teeming with those nostalgic for Savonarola while in Rome, the Pope condemns the nudities of the Sistine Chapel.
Perspective(s) is an epistolary historical thriller. From the color crusher to the Queen of France via the best painters, sculptors and architects, each of the correspondents plays their card. Everyone is a suspect.” (Presentation of Grasset editions)