What might daily life have been like for the young boys apprenticed to the master craftsmen of Renaissance Florence? Perhaps the lads were physically tired, hungry, lonely, confused by the machinations of patronage, occasionally beaten and - once in a while - locked in isolation for daring to express an opinion contrary to that of the Maestro. Thirteen-year-old Arduino sees or experiences all that and more in the only work by this Spanish novelist to be published to date in the U.S.A. in translation. Young U.S. readers can be swept into the intrigue of the plot, while details concerning the creation of paintings commissioned for a palace chapel as well as apprenticeship become backdrops for a brief story set in the cultural capital of its times. (Ages 10-12)

In Renaissance Florence, thirteen-year-old apprentice Arduino's dreams of being a painter are challenged after he discovers the extreme measures the Maestro Cosimo di Forlc will take in the name of jealousy. Arduino faces a decision that could cost him his only chance to realize his life's dream.