Paint Box

A Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice selection for 2005

Nominated for the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award for Illustration for 2004

Marietta’s father, Jacopo Tintoretto, is a renowned and famous artist living in Venice during the Renaissance era. More than anything, Merietta wants to paint like her father. But Marietta is a girl – to work and study with her father she must disguise herself in boy’s clothing. Her hose and doublet allow her to accompany her father to the studios and galleries of Venice with the paint box her father has given her.

A gift from one painter to another, my dear. The work of an artist can fill the heart with light. Use it well, Marietta, and your heart will know happiness.

When Marietta meets Piero, a young cabin boy, she is envious of everything he sees sailing the oceans – mountains, meadows and seas far from Venice. But Piero, sold into slavery to the ship’s captain, only dreams of staying at home and learning to paint. As the friendship between the two grows throughout the summer, they make plans that will allow Piero’s dreams to come to fruition. And when the time for Piero’s escape home arrives, Marietta’s special gift of her cherished paint box makes his trip extra special.