"Eric Flint - Grantville Gazette - Vol 5" - читать интересную книгу автора (Flint Eric)

An apprentice escorted Artemisia Gentileschi into the stifling studio. She was expected.
"Maestra Gentileschi, my dear, how pleasant to see you!" Gian Lorenzo Bernini stood in the
middle of his studio. The young sculptor's handsomeness was barely diminished by a layer of
rock dust. Apprentices and journeymen worked busily on busts and other statuary.
"It is good to see you, Cavaliere," Artemisia Gentileschi said.
"Enough of this 'cavaliere' nonsense, Artemisia. We've known each other too long for such
formalities."
"And we've known each other too long for me to believe you didn't know I was in Rome,
Gian Lorenzo."
Bernini laughed. "You always did have the measure of me. You are correct of course; I knew
of your arrival almost instantly. Come, let's sit on the balcony and talk. It will be more pleasant
there."
Bernini motioned to the apprentice who'd shown Artemisia into the studio. "You! Bring wine
for Maestra Gentileschi and myself." The young man scrambled to obey.
The two artists spent some time catching up. Gian Lorenzo Bernini was far more adept at
making enemies than friends, but Artemisia Gentileschi was a friend. Though Bernini painted a
little, it was working the stone that he loved, and Artemisia supposed that the main reason they
got along was because the sculptor didn't view her as a rival for commissions. They were also
both second-generation artists, a relative rarity. When small talk and nostalgia had run its course,
Bernini decided to get to the heart of the matter.
"What is it that brings you to me, Artemisia? Surely not merely to pass an afternoon in
conversation, pleasant though that may be."
 Artemisia sipped her wine before answering. "I have come to seek your assistance in a matter,
Gian Lorenzo."
"Is it money? I keep telling you that miser Philip doesn't pay you what you're worth."
"Money isn't everything," said Artemisia. This was an old argument between them. "There is
no small amount of prestige to be had painting for His Most Christian Majesty. And he's not
nearly so jealous a patron as His Holiness."
"Jealous Pope Urban may be, but he is generous. Extremely generous. If it is not money, then,
what is it you need? And what makes you think I can help you and King Philip cannot?"
"You have heard of this new town in the Germanies? Grantville, I believe it is called."
"It is called Grantville," Bernini confirmed. "And it has been the subject of much talk in the
papal court. Mostly rumors, and wild ones at that. Its inhabitants are proving most puzzling. They
are allied with the Swede, yet by all accounts, there is a Catholic church in Grantville that
flourishes alongside Protestant churches and even a synagogue. Its leaders have made no attempt
to suppress the Church and even seem to tolerate the open presence of the Jesuits."
"The father-general must be pleased," Artemisia said. "However, it confirms what I have
heard, that Grantville is a place of freedom and possibilities."
"You seek to go there?"
"No. I want to send Prudentia there. Facts about Grantville are hard to come by, but it seems
that women are not barred from advancement merely because they are women. It will be good for
her development as a painter and as a person."
"This, from the only female member of the Florentine Academy of Design?" Bernini's
feigned shock was intentionally theatrical.
Artemisia was not in a joking mood, not about this. "You know as well as I what I've had to
go through. And you also know that Rome is a snake pit for an artist."
"True enough," said Bernini in a more serious tone. The sculptor didn't even try to deny
Artemisia's statement. How could he deny it when he was the snake pit's most poisonous viper?
"I believe I can do as you ask. In fact, there is a most suitable traveling companion for young
Prudentia with plans to depart for Grantville very soon."