Justinian's desire to build Hagia Sophia came from a dream. He said that in the dream, he saw a wise man holding a great silver tray in his hands, engraved with the design of the new church that would be built upon the ruins of the old cathedral.
In the dream, Justinian said, "If I had that tray, I would build my sanctuary according to the design carved upon it."
The Church of Theodosius had once been where Justinian and Theodora were crowned. It was a traditional basilica-style structure, but it had burned down during the Nika riots. Two architects received the emperor's commission to design this pagan-style semicircular hall. Its span was even greater than that of the original Church of Theodosius. By Justinian's design, it was impossible to achieve, whether judged by geometry or architecture.
A dream was only a dream, and bringing it into reality was utterly impractical. Yet after generations of effort, it was ultimately built, like the dome of Florence's Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower, which had once also been considered impossible.
But while a client who refused to make changes was troublesome, meeting one like Julius II, who constantly altered the design and nitpicked every detail, was another kind of misery altogether.
Georgiana did not want to be that sort of client either—Byzantine one moment, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance the next, changing her mind whenever inspiration struck.
Turner's watercolor was actually quite good. It depicted the opening of a wine festival, with brilliant gold as its dominant color. After all, he was painting a countryside harvest.
What Georgiana actually preferred were Turner's storms. Landscapes were unlike portraits, with no figures to shape; they were more like the backgrounds of figure paintings, missing their protagonist.
But...
She looked at the wine