ALSO BY JASON GOODWIN Fiction The Janissary Tree The Snake Stone Nonfiction A Time for Tea: Travels Through China and India in Search of Tea On Foot to the Golden Horn: A Walk to Istanbul Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire Greenback: The Almighty Dollar and the Invention of America a novel JASON GOODWIN SARAH CRICHTON BOOKS Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York SARAH CRICHTON BOOKS Farrar, Straus and Giroux 18 West 18th Street, New York 10011 Copyright © 2008 by Jason Goodwin All rights reserved Distributed in Canada by Douglas & McIntyre Ltd. Printed in the United States of America Originally published in 2008 by Faber and Faber Ltd., Great Britain Published in the United States by Sarah Crichton Books / Farrar, Straus and Giroux First American edition, 2009 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goodwin, Jason, 1964– The Bellini card / by Jason Goodwin.—1st American ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-374-11039-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-374-11039-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Yashim (Fictitious character : Goodwin)—Fiction. 2. Eunuchs—Turkey—Fiction. 3. Art—Collectors and collecting—Fiction. 4. Art dealers—Crimes against—Italy— Venice—Fiction. 5. Venice (Italy)—Social life and customs— 19th century—Fiction. 6. Istanbul (Turkey)—Social life and customs—19th century—Fiction. I. Title. PS3607.O59227B45 2009 813’.6—dc22 2008053238 Designed by Cassandra J. Pappas www.fsgbooks.com 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 For Bibby Com’era, dov’era [As it was, where it was] — VENETIAN MOTTO Never judge a painting or a woman by candlelight. — VENETIAN PROVERB Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34