Victor and Spoils

“I’m not going to lie,” Duke drawled as they emerged from the Accademia Gallery into the shady plaza between the wings. “I don’t see what all the hullabaloo is about David. He’s not even entirely Michaelangelo’s work. And his eyeballs are off.”

Beside him, Caitlyn rolled her eyes, but refused to be drawn into his mischief.

“I liked that Ninfa Arnina much better.”

The Ninfa Arnina, translated as the Nymph of the Arno, was one of the first full-body figures sculpted by Bartolini after his return to Florence from Paris. The river nymph was so lovely that before the sculpture was even complete, it had already inspired a poem by Benedetti.

Not that Duke knew who either of them were. She knew he didn’t care either. What he’d liked was that the statue, like so many Renaissance pieces, was fully nude. And female.

“Now that was a spectacular piece of work,” he continued, deliberately egging her as they wandered towards the exit. “The way her hair’s pul