They are illusions, no more real than someone being sawed in half onstage. Yet the veiled ladies that Raffaelle Monti sculpts in the 1800s are very real to him. Poignant symbols of an identity he’s forced to conceal, even as they make him famous. As we prepare for Season 6, it’s an encore episode that first aired in 2021, a story of pride and prejudice and dreams just out of reach.

Here you can see Monti’s Veiled Lady, c. 1860, in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, a visitor favorite for more than half a century: https://collections.artsmia.org/art/12092/veiled-lady-raffaelo-monti