“He said he liked it. In fact he praised it.” Eliana frowned. “Then I found it in the back of his closet a month later. He doesn’t really care for my painting.” She turned on the light in the studio. “Here we are.”

Ross glanced around the room. Though he had seen the room before, he had not paid much attention to it then. It was cluttered with art supplies, charcoal sketches and paintings.

“You have such nice art in the house. Even besides yours. Did you choose it all?”

“Not all of it. Maurizio has good taste in art, but he only values it as an investment.” She sharpened a pencil then touched the point of it with her finger. “Anyway I guess it hurt my feelings enough that it was the last time I painted someone I knew. Last year I went on an Italian antico kick and I painted some historical figures like Marcus Aurelius, St. Francis, Caesar, people like that. I just did them in acrylics. My models were pictures from GQ, so they’re pretty sexy for historical figures. They’re stacked over in the corner if you want to see what you’re in for.”

“GQ, huh?” Ross looked to the shadowed section of the room. “Back there?”

“I’ll get the light.” She flipped another switch, turning on the lights on the other side of the studio. Ross walked over to a stack of canvases leaning against the wall. He squatted down and one by one lifted them forward, examining each in turn. He stopped halfway through the pile at a picture of a young woman in a dark scarlet robe tied at one shoulder then secured at her waist with a golden sash. In one hand she held an oil lamp. In the other hand she held a loaf of bread.

He stood, lifting the portrait from the others. “This is interesting.”

Eliana had just put on her painting smock and looked up. “That’s my Vestal.”

Ross looked back. “Vestal?”

“One of the Vestal Virgins.”

“I don’t know much about them, but this fall there’s an exhibit coming to the Uffizi called The Vestals.” His eyes traversed the picture. “Mostly sculptures though, I think.”

“Well, then you should know something about them,” she said. She walked over to his side. “In ancient Rome, the Vestals were the keepers of the temple of Vesta—the goddess of home and family. The ancient Romans believed that their empire was founded on the family, so these women were very powerful. They were given large dowries, saluted in public places, even given the best seats at the Colosseum, all the nice perks.” She looked at Ross. “They were the only women in Rome allowed to own property.”

“The Old World’s first liberated women.”