The Sultan of Paradise

Digital drawing, archival pigment inkjet print on fine art paper, Limited edition of 5, 42 x 29.7 cm, 350 USD

Roberto Ambrosio was the second captain of a Venetian trading ship sailing from Istanbul to Palestine. En route, an inevitable November Mediterranean storm destroyed their sails in a matter of minutes. Drifting for days in colossal waves, the ship finally smashed against a rock, splitting it open like a melon on a summer day. Opening his eyes, Roberto wasn’t sure if he was alive or had died and gone to paradise. Looking up, he saw an exotic beauty with red hair, emerald eyes, cherry lips, skin like fine Chinese silk, and adorned with a dazzling peacock feather. He would soon learn she was the daughter of the Emir of Alexandria (an Ottoman state at the time), and that he’d been taken prisoner as a spy. Well, he thought, I’d still be smiling even if I were beheaded right here and now!