As I said in an earlier post, every time I am working on a new project -- in this case my next novel which will be a semi-sequel The Innamorati -- something always shows up to offer form and inspiration to vague but instinctive ideas I have about the work. In this case, Portuguese artist João Lemos sent me this gorgeous and quite unexpected painting "La Stigmatisée" by French painter, Georges Moreau de Tours (1848-1901).
I love this sensual image of a young woman, where both the dressings over the stigmata of her hands and her clothing are unraveling. She appears languorous, almost trance-like in her calm, while the onlookers are tense, agitated, a hand gripping the sleeve of another as though threatened by the spectacle of the reclining woman. There is just so much going here -- all of it ambiguous: earthy and ethereal, masculine and feminine, still and agitated, acceptance and skepticism all at once.
So I am working this young woman into my novel. She is a terrific foil for the main character -- Zizola who considers herself pragmatic, a down to earth trickster on a walkabout in Italy in the 16th century. Not completely sure yet who she is, but I have some ideas, and I suspect over the next few weeks I learn more.
