Perspectives

About the book

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2026*

'There is no living writer whose new books I fall on with greater delight than Laurent Binet. . . Perspectives is a proper treat' Naomi Alderman

'A dazzling romp' Guardian

Florence,1557. As dawn breaks, a painter is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart.

Above him, the paintings he laboured over for more than a decade. At his home, a hidden portrait scandalously depicting Maria de Medici, daughter of the Duke of Florence, as a naked Venus. Who is the murderer? Who made the painting? As the city erupts in chaos, Giorgio Vasari, the great art historian, is picked to lead the investigation.

Letters fly back and forth carrying news of...