Everyone has heard about the beautiful Lucretia Borgia, depraved and treacherous. But in Renaissance Italy there were other, no less bright, women: poetesses, writers, singers, salon hostesses, nuns, courtesans and favorites of monarchs, as well as, of course, artists and models. Weaving the cultural history of the Italian Renaissance, we cannot do without these women. However, their names were lost over the centuries, and their faces were forgotten. The short stories presented in this book reconstruct for us the story of their lives, telling about the inspiration that they gave birth to in men, and the right to creativity and freedom for which these women themselves fought. The book consists of 15 stories that reveal the secrets of famous paintings and forgotten poems. The facts, names and dates in it are genuine, but the emotions in most cases are reconstructed by the author. After all, the chronicles of that era, listing the facts, are usually silent about feelings, love and tears. And, speaking about the Renaissance, of course, one cannot do without works of art, so this book contains many reproductions of paintings and statues telling about the heroines. They are accompanied by art historical annotations - thanks to them, the reader will penetrate deeper into the history of Renaissance art, especially into the evolution of the portrait genre. Author of the book: Sofya Bagdasarova is an art critic, twice nominated for the Enlightenment Prize. Author of the bestsellers “Thieves, Vandals and Idiots”, “Disgusting Art”, “Apocalypse in Art”, “Leo Tolstoy loved children very much...” The publishing layout of the book is saved in PDF A4 format.