Frustrated by perceived mistreatment at the hands of Pope Julius II and motivated by a sense of rivalry with the older Leonardo da Vinci, who produced a design that was not used, Michelangelo accepts.

The artist spends his days on walks around the city, accompanied by Mesihi of Prishtina, a poet patronized by Ali Pasha.

The sultan does provide the artist the incomes associated with a village as a gift beyond his promised wages, but Michelangelo gives the deed to Mesihi.

Mesihi trades the deed to the village for knowledge of a plot against Michelangelo's life—members of the Ottoman court have decided to kill him to prevent the construction of a bridge designed by an infidel.

Michelangelo completes a number of works in Italy, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling and St. Peter's Basilica and dies in Rome some sixty years after leaving Constantinople.

Julie Étienne, for Le Monde, wrote that the novel is "solemn and graceful at the same time [...] even if it happens to graze preciousness, and doesn't always avoid somewhat stiff lyricism and symbolism.