September 30

Les Maitres Mosaistes (1837)
By George Sand
The Master Mosaic Makers, English translation by Henry Majewski (2005)

This short but sweet story features of couple of layers of narrative, with an elderly painter lamenting his talented sons' choice to pursue mosaics rather than the more exalted art of painting.  These honorable and talented young men are thwarted, however, by jealous competitors who nearly destroy them, but the competitors are in turn impeded through due process of law.  As it turns out, the trial (a mosaics competition) between (principally) the Zuccato brothers and the Bianchinis is factual, though George Sand's telling may be partly fictional.

The ending is satisfying and the story also features such luminaries as Tintoretto, Titian, and Veronese, among other artists, helping to place the story in its time frame.

I would not have picked up this book, except that an acquaintance at Brown University had translated it.  While the French version is widely available, the English translation can be found through Amazon and ABE Books (though quite costly) and in academic libraries.