The Duke S Prize A Story Of Art And Heart In Florence

Reproduction of the original.

"The Duke's Prize" by Maturin M. Ballou is an inspiring story set in Italy. The narratives convey a variety of moral messages. Patience and consistency can result in great accomplishment; not all falls are intended to create roadblocks. The story beautifully instills the desire to conquer all. Love and dedication will always pay off.

"[...]flowers have a soul in every leaf. There is a breathing of the arts in the very air of Florence, whose galleries are crowded with the choicest collections of paintings and statuary in the world. Here have ever congregated the talent and beauty of every clime. With the painter, the poet, the sculptor, here sleep, in the city of the silent, Michael Angelo, Alfieri, and like spirits, rendering it hallowed ground to the lovers of art. Proud and lovely city, with thy sylvan Casino spreading its riches of green sward and noble trees along the banks of the silvery Arno, well may a Florentine be proud of his birthplace! It is in Florence, this very paradise of art, that our tale opens. Here the poor scholar or artist, who seeks to perfect himself by viewing the glorious works of the old masters, may live like a prince on the most moderate and frugal means, in a bright and sunny land, where the heart's blood leaps most swiftly to the promptings of imagination; where the female form earliest attains its wonted beauty, and longest holds its sway over the heart; where art and nature both combine to entrance the soul in admiration; in that land of the sun-genial Italy; that soft, yet wild country, whose children learn the knowledge of poetry and art from visible things, while the rest of the world derive them from books.[...]".

LOVE AND RIVALRY IN SUNNY ITALY Carlton is an American artist. He had come to Florence in the delightful Italian province of Italy to embrace a land of art. But then he'd met the gorgeous Florinda, and was smitten. Florinda is the Duke's Prize. The Grand Duke of Tuscany had taken the orphan under his wing, even though she had a ward, her uncle Signor Latrezzi. Carlton tells Florinda a tale of the Rhine, of the lovers Egbert and Bettina and how they thwarted opposition to their love. It is a prophetic tale. For Signor Latrezzi had always planned for Florinda to marry Petro Giampetti. And the jealous, violent Petro had grown up always believing that the Duke's Prize belonged to him. ENTER THIS RAVISHING ROMANCE OF A COLORFUL TIME

"The Duke's Prize" from Maturin Murray Ballou. Writer and publisher in 19th-century Boston (1820-1895).