In Renaissance Venice, artist Giorgione 'Zorzo' Barbarelli's career hangs in the balance. Competition is fierce, and his debts are piling up. So when Zorzo hears a rumour of a mysterious new pigment brought to Venice by the richest man in Europe, he sets out to acquire the colour and secure his name in history. Winning a commission to paint a portrait of the man's wife, Sybille, Zorzo thinks he has found a way into the merchant's favour. Instead he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that stretches across Europe and a marriage coming apart inside one of the city's most illustrious palazzos. As the water levels rise and the plague creeps ever closer, an increasingly desperate Zorzo isn't sure whom he can trust . . . Will Sybille prove to be the key to Zorzo's success, or the reason for his downfall?