The Dwarf by Pär Lagerkvist (1944)

The Dwarf is a 1944 novel by Pär Lagerkvist. It is considered his most important and artistically innovative novel. The main setting is a fictionalized version of Milan. The character Bernardo of the novel is a fictionalized version of Leonardo da Vinci, who served as a court artist and military architect in Milan from 1482 to 1499. The novel depicts the Italian Renaissance through the eyes of a misanthropic assassin.