Some stories are part of a grand narrative. Some are small, insular, intimate, yet no less deserving to be told. Taken together, these pieces form a tapestry of life, love, and longing in early Renaissance Italy. At their heart of these stories are the false faces people wear to hide their true selves. Like the Venetian Carnivale masks, they are hardened, often grotesque, always mischievous. These are the Varnished Faces. Collected here are several...