Laura Morelli

Three Kings 👑👑👑

Today, Italians (and many others around the world) are celebrating the Feast of the Three Kings. This celebration happens on Epiphany (January 6), which falls twelve days after Christmas, the traditional length of time it took for the magi to travel to Bethlehem.

Over the centuries, Italian artists have tried their hand at representing the momentous visit to Bethlehem. The subject evolved to include three men (the gospels don’t specify the number of magi) bearing gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

According to tradition, they are Balthazar, from Yemen or Ethiopia, who brings myrrh; Melchior, a middle-aged king from Persia who brings frankincense; and Caspar, an older man possibly from India, bearing gold.

These details gave painters fodder to spark their artistic imagination and experimentation.

-Three Kings mosaic from Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna ca. 520s (detail)

-Giotto di Bondone, Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1320, tempera on wood, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (detail)

-Sandro Botticelli, Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1475, tempera on wood, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence (detail)

-Andrea Mantegna, Adoration of the Magi, distemper on linen, ca. 1495-1506, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (detail)

-Artemisia Gentileschi, Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1636-37, oil on canvas, Cathedral of San Procolo, Pozzuoli

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Why Art and Books Matter

Here's what I learned in 2025...

Over the years, I have received emails from readers telling me my books and online art history programs got them through a tough time.

This is one of the gifts of the author life—receiving a message from a reader who says your stories helped them get through being homebound during an illness, gave them a temporary escape from the relentlessness of caregiving, or transported them to a different place during a time when they couldn’t travel.

Throughout my health crisis this fall, I experienced the power of art and books myself in a way I never have before. I know I’ve been fortunate to have gone so long without finding myself in such a situation.

In the anxious days following my initial diagnosis, I would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold panic. I quickly learned that opening my ipad to my latest read, even if it was 3:00am, was the best way to ride the intense wave of fear and get to the other side.

During two and a half weeks undergoing treatment in Houston, I must have read 20 novels.

When I began to recover from surgery enough to take longer walks, I made a beeline for the Trajan exhibition at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, the galleries of the Menil Collection, and Mark Rothko's amazing chapel, which was probably the most healing of all.

Whether strolling through a gallery or resting on a bench, whether contemplating an ancient mosaic or an abstract painting, I felt peace and gratitude to spend the precious moments of life this way.

I have always said the thread linking all my novels is that “Art has the power to bring hope during times of darkness.” And now I know the truth of this first-hand, in a way I never appreciated before.

Yes. Books and art are getting me through a time of walking through the fire. They make everything better.

If you are an author or an artist who questions (like we do most of the time) if your work means anything at all or if you are just shouting into a void, here is your reminder that what you do matters.

At times, it can even be a lifeline for someone who needs it.

A rough ending to 2025...

This year was stacking up to be one of my favorite ones ever. Sending the last of four kids off successfully to college, carefree travels to both beloved and uncharted places, reconnecting with old friends...

But then, 2025 threw me a terrifying plot twist I never saw coming: a diagnosis of colorectal cancer, even though everything on the surface seemed “completely fine.”

As the year comes to a close, I count many, many blessings:

-The support of my family, especially my husband, who travelled with me halfway across the country to interview medical teams at three cancer centers, took copious handwritten notes, waited anxiously for results, and spent every moment of every sleepless night alongside me

-The incredible expertise, dedication, and compassion I received from each professional at MD Anderson Cancer Center. So many people lack access to such care, and I do not take it for granted

-A successful surgery and a good prognosis

-God as the ultimate healer. This was a big surgery, and I am amazed to feel close to myself again, and so quickly. The picture of me going into the OR and the one of me having dinner out in Houston were taken 10 days apart. It's incredible how the body heals.

I have more recovery and monitoring ahead of me, but I’m OK. I feel mostly back to myself and am so thankful for a good prognosis.

I'm grateful to my readers and students for bringing meaning to my life this year. Wishing you peace and prosperity in 2026.

P.S. Here is your reminder to get your preventive cancer screenings! That’s the only way I found mine, when all my other labs and images gave the false impression that everything was totally normal.

A previously unknown Michelangelo drawing will go to auction at Christie's in New York in February, with an estimated hammer price of up to $2 million.

The small red chalk study—just five inches tall—depicts a pointed foot dating around 1511-1512. Scholars believe Michelangelo may have made this sketch while preparing to paint the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

The drawing surfaced when its owner, who inherited it from his grandmother, submitted a photograph to Christie's online portal. The piece had been in his family since the late 18th century.

After months of analysis, Christie's specialist Giada Damen concluded the paper dated to the 16th century. Infrared reflectography revealed additional black chalk drawings on the reverse side.

When compared to a well-known sketch by Michelangelo for the same sibyl at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the scale, color, and handling of red chalk matched perfectly.

This discovery is significant for several reasons. Of the roughly 600 surviving Michelangelo drawings, only about ten remain in private hands. Almost all known studies for the Sistine Chapel are in public collections. This will be the first unrecorded Sistine ceiling study ever to appear at auction.

The drawing reveals Michelangelo's working method: You can see where he first sketched the heel with delicate chalk lines, then strengthened them with more vigorous strokes—adjusting the pose as he drew, working out how the Sibyl's foot would press against the ground to bear the weight of this monumental figure painted three times life-size.

Photos:
-Drawing up for auction
-Michelangelo's Libyan Sibyl from the Sistine Ceiling
-Preparatory sketch for the Libyan Sibyl in the

This week, my newsletter subscribers got an invitation to my holiday pop-up shop. 🎁

If you're not on my Tuesday mailing list, you're missing out!

I have been working on some GORGEOUS special editions of some of my novels, plus personally curated course bundles for the Italy and art lovers on your holiday shopping list.

If you order physical books, I will sign, hand-wrap them with holiday ribbons, and include a handwritten message.

The shop closes on December 9 so I have time to send out gifts before Christmas.

These gifts have been so much fun for me to put together! I hope you find the perfect thing for someone on your list who loves historical fiction, Italy, or art history.

Another invitation to the pop-up shop is going out to new subscribers at 6am Eastern on Tuesday.

👉 If you would like access to the shop, make sure you're signed up to receive my weekly emails:

👉 lauramorelli.com/subscribe/

Give thanks! 🍁