Art Historian & Historical Novelist
Laura Morelli is an art historian and USA Today bestselling historical novelist. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University and is the author of fiction and nonfiction inspired by the history of art. She has taught college students in the U.S. and Italy, and has developed lessons for TED-Ed. Laura’s award-winning historical novels include The Painter’s Apprentice, The Gondola Maker, The Giant; A Novel of Michelangelo’s David, and The Night Portrait. Her newest novel, The Stolen Lady: A Novel of World War II & the Mona Lisa, launches in September.
Laura and I discuss The Stolen Lady, her decades-long fascination with the Mona Lisa, how the Nazis sought to steal all of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings and drawings during World War 2, that the Mona Lisa was never delivered to …