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In the M section of art books, we found a sli upstairs to the mezzanine — which we had to ourselves today — we huddled over the plates of Martini’s paintings

One of his earliest works enchanted e — a fresco in a chapel in Assisi, Italy — depicted Saint Martin being knighted by the Roolden disk behind his head and his hands folded in prayer, Martin looked every bit the pious saint But other figures in the scene looked like entertainers at a ers had been captured inin close harmony Beside them, a dark-haired ed instru the struood reason I pointed hi two flutes at once”

“Cool,” she ht variation on her favorite utterance—“How does he do that?”

One of Martini’s final works—The Holy Fa in its treate ten or twelve “Wow, a fa Jesus — you don’t see many pictures of that, huh?”

“And get a load of that pout Jesus is giving them,” she said “What a brat!”

But it was Martini’s Avignon portrait The Blessing Christ—the red-ochre sinopia drawing I’d seen in the palace — that I kept flipping back to stare at again and again The drawing had been made as a study for a fresco at the cathedral, one of four scenes tucked beneath the sone, but the underlying sinopia of Jesus had been found andwith a co of Mary The eyes of Jesus seeht — the Shroud, the bones, and I: Martini’s Holy Trinity”

Miranda translated the artist’s biography for , since details of his life were sketchy “His first knoas in Siena, Italy, in 1315,” she said “He worked in Siena, Padua, Naples, and Florence for twenty years He non in 1335 or ’36 to paint at the papal court He died here in 1344”

“At the papal court? So he ht have had access”

“That’s aHe was friends with Petrarch, the sonnet-spinning chaplain who loved to hate the papacy Martini painted a frontispiece for Petrarch’s copy of the writings of Virgil Oh, cool—he also painted a portrait of Laura, Petrarch’s not-quite girlfriend”

“Let’s see it,” I said “What page is that on?”

“None, alas — it’s long lost But we know it existed because Petrarch wrote two poeenius”

But was it possible that Martini had a dark side? Was it possible that he’d created a “snuff shroud,” as Miranda had speculated in Turin — a work made expressly to document thebut undeniably fascinating Wouldn’t it be ironic if the relic revered by millions was actually a piece of forensic evidence — the world’spiece of forensic evidence, one whosehad been misunderstood for centuries?

But was Martini capable of co a cold-blooded murder for the sake of…what? Did he have both ht ht drive a talented and prominent artist to coe of passing off the evidence as a holy relic?

I took out a pocket-sized notebook and flattened it open At the top of a left-hand page, I wrote “Motive?” and — on the facing page—“Opportunity?” I stared at the neatly lined pages awhile, feeling foolish and bereft of ideas Finally, shaking my head in frustration, I forced myself to put pen to paper Under “Motive?” I wrote “artistic rivalry?” Did Martini have a coed Miranda “Know of any artists who’ve killed other artists?”

She looked a paintbrushes? Spray cans of Krylon at twenty paces?”

“Coeon, whatever Murder motivated by artistic jealousy?”

“I think character assassination is more common in cases like that,” she said “Premeditated bitchiness”

“What about ro on Martini’s love life”