The 50 Greatest Novels for Art Students

July 6th, 2011 by Staff Writers

Preparing to enter the often brutally critical art world can be a tough journey. Art
students need lots of support, practice and inspiration to make their time in art school
the best preparation possible to take on a serious fine art career. While professors, other
artists and students offer up a lot of that, books can also be an amazing place to get a
little inspiration or insight into what its really like to work as an artist. Here are some
of the novels we believe will be the best reads for young artists in training. Covering
diverse genres like historical fiction and mystery, theres bound to be something for
every aspiring artist to curl up with on a rainy day.

Classics
These classic novels will not only help you to be more well-read, but have a lot of
insight to offer those in the art world as well.
1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: Enamored with his
own portrait, one that allows him to indulge all of his darkest and
most hedonistic desires without consequence, Dorian Gray sinks
further into despair as his once idyllic life begins to unravel. Wilde
showcases the power art can have over us and offers a cautionary tale
for those who may become too wrapped up in the pleasures of life.
2. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: While the novel
focuses on an architect rather than an artist, the
struggles he faces are universal to all that take on a
creative and highly competitive career path, making
this a great read for any aspiring artist.
3. Cats Eye by Margaret Atwood: Centered on a
middle-aged painter who is taking a hard look at
her past through a retrospective show of her work,
this novel explores the forces that drive artists to
create, whether they are good or bad.
4. Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut: Abstract painter
Rabo Karabekian, a minor character from one of
Vonneguts other novels, is at the center of this
book. Full of satire, the novel pokes fun at the
business of the art world and the various art
movements it often puts so much stock in.
5. Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse: A
Westernized look at Hesses more famous novel,
Siddhartha, this story follows a young man as he
tries to figure out where he fits in, whether as a

monk or as an artist a journey all of us have to take as we grow up and into ourselves.
6. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce: This semiautobiographical tale follows Stephan Daedalus as he faces some
existential questions in life and turns to art as a means to express
himself whatever the consequences.
7. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham:
Philip Carey, the main character of this novel, is
orphaned and deformed and struggling to come to
terms with both. Readers can follow him as he
travels to Paris to become a painter, later to become
a doctor and falls in love with the engaging
Mildred.
8. The Unknown Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac:
While perhaps a bit short to be called a true novel,
this story nonetheless is a great read for those
interested in art. In it, readers will become enthralled by a painter who
has the ability to make paintings seem to come alive.
9. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by
Michael Chabon: If you have any interest in the
creation, origin or work that goes into comic books,
this novel is an absolute must-read. Following two
friends as they come from nothing to be some of
the biggest names in the comic industry, it offers
compelling story, but an amazing amount of
information as well.

not only a
historical

Art Historical Fiction

Get inspired to create your own great works by reading tales based on the lives of some
of the biggest names in art history.
10. The Painter from Shanghai by Jennifer Cody Epstein: This novel
tells the story (albeit fictionalized a bit) of Chinese painter Pan
Yuliang, a woman who escapes life as a concubine through her talent
as an artist. She has her dreams tested as the Chinese Revolution
looms on the horizon.
11. I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de
Trevio: History often forgets about the smaller
figures in art. Tthis book attempts to right that,
telling the story of Juan de Pareja, the slave to wellknown artist Diego Velazquez. He was a painter in
his own right, despite being banned from practicing
he was a slave.

the arts because

12. The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone: Based on the
biographical events of Michelangelos life, this novel showcases the
artist in his full brilliance, passion and even, at times, fury.
13. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier:
Now a major motion picture, this book offers
insights into the life and work of Dutch painter
Vermeer, suggesting that the model for one of his
most famous works was his own beloved
housemaid.
14. The Passion of Artemesia by Susan Vreeland:
Artemesia Gentileschi succeeded as an artist at a
time when women were barred from the art world.
That doesnt mean it was an easy journey, and this
novel, centered on her rape, the trial that followed and the art it
spawned, details that in engaging prose.
15. Leonardos Swans by Karen Essex: Filled with
sex and political intrigue, this novel follows
Isabella and Beatrice dEste, two Italian sisters who
are vying for power, love and a seat in front of one
of the greatest Italian painters Leonardo da Vinci.
16. Naked Came I by David Weiss: Rodins The
Thinker has fascinated art lovers for decades, and
readers can get a closer look at the man behind the
work in this novel detailing Rodins life with great
accuracy. Though perhaps a bit of artistic license
a compromise any artist would be sure to
approve of.
17. Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by
Harriet Scott Chessman: Get a peek into the life
of Mary Cassatt, one of the biggest names in
Impressionist painting, through the eyes of her
this compelling fictionalized take on art history.
18. Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach: A highly
fictionalized tale about Dutch painter Jan van Loos,
this book engages the reader with romance, art, the
tulip trade and a plot hatched between two
forbidden lovers.
19. Cupid and the Silent Goddess by Alan Fisk:
Focusing on the painting Allegory with Venus and
Cupid, this novel takes a look at not only the artists
who created the work, but the models who sat for it
and the political atmosphere that shaped the work

sister Lydia in

of Italian Renaissance artists.

20. As Above, So Below by Rudy Rucker: Learn more about the life of
Pieter Brueghel in this fictionalized tale, with each chapter focusing
on one of his famous paintings and the events of his life which helped
to shape it.
21. The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey: This novel
explores the romance between Klimt and his
protege, the young Emilie Floge, who would
become the model for his famous work The Kiss.
22. Lust for Life by Irving Stone:
The life of Van Gogh was
cutting off his brilliant work
this wonderfully written novel,
get a glimpse into the artistic
Gogh and the demons that
throughout his life.

tragically short,
much too soon. In
art students can
genius of Van
tormented him

In an old country
23. The Painter by Will Davenport:
house, a woman discovers a
journal that
documents a year in the life of a
great artist (who
is later revealed to be Rembrandt) as he battles a poet for the love of a
woman.
24. I Am Madame X by Gioia Diliberto: This work
takes a look at the woman behind John Singer
Sargents well-known painting Portrait of Madame
X , bringing her to life by detailing her loves, loses
and rather unconventional attitudes that may have
motivated her to stay anonymous.

An Artists Life
From dealing with fame to accepting a complete
lack of it, these
novels weave fictional stories about the lives of artists, some of which are sure to
resonate with aspiring artists.
25. My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok: Sometimes the art an artist
creates doesnt always match perfectly with the world view of those
around him. In this story, readers will follow a Hasidic Jew who is
devoted to his faith, but still feels compelled to create imaginative
artwork even if it borders on blasphemy.
26. The Bird Artist by Howard Norman: Following
an artist who has comes to terms with never being a
big name, this story with engage you with
descriptions of the natural world, interesting
characters, and, of all things, a murder perpetrated

by the artist himself.

27. The Great Man by Kate Christensen: Artists are often known for
their scandalous private lives as much as for their work. In this story,
a great painter has died, and two biographers are attempting to piece
together the story of his life with help from his wife and his mistress.
As you would imagine, conflict isnt far behind.
28. Landscape with Fragmented Figures by Jeff
Vande Zande: Things cant seem to get worse for
Ray Casper, an artist and professor, who is central
to this novel about art, love, brotherhood and more.
29. Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale:
Detailing the relationship between mental illness
and creativity, Gale paints an artist so consumed by
her work she fails to see the strength and struggles
of her family.
30. The Horses Mouth by Joyce Cary: Gulley
Gimson is an artist unconcerned with creating
conventional works or being conventional at all, for
that matter. Despite his scorn for the outside world
and questionable morals, he is a great artist, and
readers will be inspired by his dedication to the

creative process.

31. The Vivisector by Patrick White: Hurtle Duffield

uses the imperfections of those around him as
inspiration for his art, yet when he encounters
someone within whom he sees himself, he takes a
new and brutally honest look at the creative
experience.
32. Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham:
Breaking away from societal norms, the main
character quits his job and abandons his family to
take up painting. Based very loosely on the life of
Gauguin, it takes a hard look at what it means to be
being and to live in society.
33. The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart: Painting
and the creation of art can be a very emotional
experience, something showcased in this
compelling novel centered on an artist who paints over his canvasses
just as he tries to repress memories of those he
has loved in his life.
34. The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley:
This historical romance is set in 16tth century
France and England. A young widow and painter

an artist, a human

gets involved in Henry VIIIs political scheming and ends up as a royal court painter.
Supernatural elements augment the tale, though it is rich with historical detail.
35. An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro: This prizewinning novel is much more than a simple story of an Japanese artist.
It spans generations and explores the gap between a father and his
daughters neither of which can understand the other.

The Art Business

The art business is a cutthroat one, and makes the perfect subject for a
wide range of novels, including these that touch on issues like
competition, passion and less-than-honest sales.
36. The Tragic Muse by Henry James: Written by literary great Henry
James, this novel showcases the conflict between the art world and
the real world, following a man who gives up a political career to
pursue his true love: painting.
37. Exiles in America by Christopher Bram: This
novel examines the idea of being an exile, whether
because of political unrest, sexual orientation or a
range of other factors, and is full of drama,
unexpected romance, jealousy and intrigue.
38. Headlong by Michael Frayn: The starring role in
this novel isnt a character per se, but a painting by
Breugel. Found in a run-down home by a
unscrupulous art historian, the painting is at the
center of this entertaining commentary on the
dealings of the art world that also serves as an amazing art historical
lesson on iconography and Dutch painting.

Mystery and Intrigue

From stolen works of art to mysteries found in medieval paintings, these novels are sure
to keep readers on the edge of their seats while teaching them a thing
or two about art.
39. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco: Eco is well-known for his
work as an medieval art historian, but in this work he creates a
fictional whodunit set in a medieval monastic library. While fictional,
it offers an amazing insight into the world of patrons, books, the
church and more in medieval times.
40. The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte: At
the center of this novel is Julia, an art restorer who
discovers a strange inscription on a Flemish
painting and becomes drawn into a solving the

mystery that is poses.

41. Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett: This kids book follows two
precocious youngsters as they attempt to track down a thief who has
stolen a valuable Vermeer. While meant for younger readers, its still
a fun read for adults.
42. My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk: Set in 16th
century Istanbul, this novel focuses on the murder
of a book illuminator commissioned by the sultan
to create a book to celebrate his life and times.
Readers must not only try to figure out the mystery,
but what the work of the master artist might mean.
43. The Portrait by Iain Pears: It can be hard to take
criticism, but this novel takes it to the extreme with
an portrait painter luring an art critic to a remote
island with designs to taking revenge for wrongs he
feels were done to him.
44. Theft: A Love Story by Peter Carey: Filled with
international crime, art forgery, dangerous love
affairs and a passion for the creative process, this
novel is a great and exciting read for art lovers.
45. The Music Lesson: A Novel by Katharine
Weber: A lonely and depressed art historian
escapes to Ireland to get away from her life, but
soon becomes embroiled in a plot to steal a famous
Vermeer.

Miscellaneous
From romance to fantasy, these novels use art and artists to weave a
wide range of compelling tales.
46. Memory and Dream by Charles
tale, this story focuses on a
Isabelle, who can create works
enables her to help a friend who
from the spirit world.

de Lint: Reading almost like a fairy

talented young painter called
that have a life of their own. This
is dead, but is calling out to her

47. The Cheese Monkeys by Chip

student will get a kick out of this
two art students as they go
semesters in graphic design,
friendship and meeting a
will change their outlook on art.

Kidd: Any art

novel, following
through their first
building a
professor who

48. The Birth of Venus by Sarah Durant: 15th century Florence was a
hotbed of great artistic activity, but it was also the seat of much
political unrest and the threat of the plague. This setting is the
backdrop for a coming of age story that is as educational on this
amazing period of art history as it is compelling on a human level.
49. The Chrysalis: A Novel by Heather Terrell: At
the center of this novel is a portrait, a work which
links three different storylines: that of a Dutch
artist, the latter owner of the painting and a lawyer
defending an auction house against claims the
painting was stolen by the Nazis.
50. The Stone Carvers by Jane Urquhart: During the
tumultuous years of WWI, the main characters of
this novel meet, fall in love and are separated by
war

Historical Novels about

Artists
Part I:
Novels about European Artists
through the 17th Century
by Margaret Donsbach

In a world before literacy, paintings on cave walls by prehistoric artists must have
helped tell stories about successful hunting expeditions, remembered or wished for.
The art on medieval church walls helped tell sacred stories to people who came to
worship. During the Renaissance, as scholars rediscovered the ancient Greek and
Roman philosophers and the myths and legends that so powerfully symbolize the
range of human passions, painters and sculptors like Botticelli and Da Vinci were
moved to depict these stories, too, in their art.
Just as storytelling inspires art, so does art inspire storytelling. In 1999, two novels
about the Dutch painter Jan Vermeer were published to acclaim that must have
surprised the authors. At the time, historical novels were not in vogue, but the
connection to art made these novels special.

Historical Novels about Vermeer

Tracy Chevalier's novel Girl With a Pearl Earring is about a
young woman who works as a servant in the household of
the seventeenth century Dutch artist Jan Vermeer.
Gradually, almost wordlessly, she and Vermeer begin to
share their passion for color, light and form. Published in
1999, the novel leaped onto the bestseller lists.
Coincidentally, Susan Vreeland's critically acclaimed Girl in
Hyacinth Blue, another novel that takes Vermeer's art as
its subject, was also published in 1999. This series of
beautifully written linked short stories follows a single
Vermeer painting back in time from its rather sinister
modern owner, through a selection of owners in past
centuries, to the moment the artist settles his daughter
near a window and begins to paint.
Perhaps 1999 was the year of the seventeenth century Dutch artist, because
Deborah Moggach's Tulip Fever, set in Amsterdam in the 1630s, also appeared that
year. This time the story revolves around a fictional Dutch portrait artist hired to
paint a man and his wife. As the painter captures her image, a passion awakens
within him, and none of the three people will be the same again.
Curiously enough, a 1991 novel by historical romance author Rosalind Laker, The
Golden Tulip, anticipated the setting and some of the themes in the two Vermeer
novels, imagining what might have happened if Vermeer had accepted a young
woman apprentice.

Historical Novels about Michelangelo

The Vermeer novels were far from the first to portray the lives of artists and the
power of their work. Irving Stone, whose 1934 novel about another Dutch painter,
the nineteenth century artist Vincent van Gogh, established him as a successful
author, published The Agony and the Ecstasy about Michelangelo in 1961. Stone did
hands-on research for this novel. He lived in Italy for several years and even
worked as an apprentice to a marble sculptor for a taste of what Michelangelo must
have experienced while creating some of his masterworks.
Sidney Alexander's trilogy about Michelangelo, beginning with Michelangelo the
Florentine, was published around the same time, with the first volume appearing in
1957 and the last in 1987. Alexander won praise for his scholarship about the
Renaissance period, though his novels were criticized for their rambling pace.

Historical Novels about Leonardo da

Vinci
A wealth of novels about artists and their art have
appeared since the success of Girl With a Pearl Earring and
Girl in Hyacinth Blue. The Renaissance period is a favorite.
Dan Brown's runaway bestseller The Da Vinci Code (not
historical fiction, but a contemporary thriller which revolves
around Da Vinci's paintings) awakened popular interest in
the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex is about a woman who
longs to be painted by Leonardo. I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne
Kalogridis imagines the life of the woman in Leonardo's
most famous painting. Javier Sierra's The Secret Supper
portrays a battle of wits between Leonardo and a
representative of the Inquisition over "heretical" elements
in his painting of the Last Supper.
James McKean's Quattrocento is a time-slip novel in which a modern man falls in
love with a woman in a previously unrecognized da Vinci painting and is able to
travel back in time to meet her. The term "quattrocento" refers to the early
Renaissance period in which Leonardo painted. A lesser-known novel about da Vinci
is Michele Desbordes's slender 2003 novel The Maid's Request, about the artist as
an elderly man and the maidservant who wishes to continue to serve him after
death by giving him her body to study.
Leonardo da Vinci was far more than a painter. In the 1970s, co-authors Martin
Woodhouse and Robert Ross wrote a series of thrillers beginning with The Medici
Guns which focus on his work developing futuristic weaponry for the Duke of Milan.
Author George Herman added sleuthing to the roster of Leonardo's talents. He has
written three mystery novels, beginning with A Comedy of Murders in 1994, in
which da Vinci teams up with a court dwarf to investigate murder.

Other Renaissance Painters

Leonardo was still in his teens when Botticelli, one of the first great Italian painters
of the Renaissance, was in his heyday. Linda Proud's Botticelli trilogy, beginning
with A Tabernacle for the Sun, includes Leonardo as a secondary character, but it is
Botticelli's art, informed by the rediscovery of Greek philosophy, that takes center
stage. Botticelli remains an important character in the two sequels, Pallas and the
Centaur and The Rebirth of Venus. Proud's prequel to these novels, A Gift for the
Magus is about Botticelli's mentor, Fra Filippo Lippi. Strikingly different in style,
Marina Fiorato's raunchy mystery The Botticelli Secret plunges a fictional model for
Botticelli into an odd-couple romance and a desperate race to decode the meaning
of a Botticelli painting.
As the Renaissance matured, great artists
emerged in other parts of Europe. The
sixteenth century Flemish artist Pieter
Bruegel is the subject of Randy Rucker's
As Above, So Below. Diane Haeger's The
Ruby Ring is about the mistress of the
great Roman painter Raphael. With
Christopher Peachment's Caravaggio, we

move into the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Italian painter Caravaggio
lived a life as dramatic as his chiaroscuro paintings, which featured brilliantly lit
subjects emerging out of darkness.
A lesser-known Renaissance artist, at least today, was Agnolo di Cosimo, known as
Bronzino. Alan Fisk's comic novel Cupid and the Silent Goddess is about the
creation of Bronzino's most famous painting, "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time
(Exposure of Luxury)."
Adria Bernardi's 2000 novel The Day Laid on the Altar is about artists famous and
obscure. Balancing her story about the acclaimed Venetian painter Titian are the
stories of two artistic friends who labored in obscurity, a rustic shepherd and an
aspiring fresco painter.

Historical Novels about Women

Artists
Since many women are enthusiastic readers of historical
fiction, well-written novels about pioneering women in any
field and era are always popular. In early seventeenth
century Italy, Artemisia Gentileschi overcame numerous
obstacles to become a successful artist.
Several novelists have written about her. Anna Banti's
Artemisia was published in 1953 in Italian and translated
into English in 1988. A novel by French author Alexandra
Lapierre, also titled Artemisia and praised for its research,
was published in 1998 in French and translated into English
in 2000. Susan Vreeland followed up the success of her
1999 Vermeer novel with a 2002 novel The Passion of Artemisia, a particularly vivid
rendering of Artemisia's life. Pauline Holdstock's novel Beyond Measure (titled A
Rare and Curious Gift in the U.S.) is about a slave from Africa whose mottled skin
color makes her feel ugly in a Renaissance world that prizes physical beauty. Her
story intersects with that of a woman artist loosely based on Artemisia.
The Serpent Garden by Judith Merkle Riley is set in sixteenth century Tudor
England. Riley's heroine is a fictional woman painter of miniatures in the time of
Henry VIII. Though their names are lost to history, women were indeed involved in
the painting of miniatures during the Tudor era.

A Novel Featuring Hans Holbein

The sixteenth century German artist Hans Holbein went to London in 1526, where
he became a court painter for Henry VIII and painted Henry's Chancellor Thomas
More, among others. Vanora Bennett's romantic novel Portrait of an Unknown
Woman is about a foster daughter of Thomas More who finds herself attracted to
both Holbein and another man.

Historical Novels about Rembrandt

Two novels about the seventeenth century Dutch artist

Rembrandt van Rijn appeared in 2003. Rembrandt's
Whore, by the French writer Sylvie Matton, is a stylish
literary novel about Hendrickje Stoffels, who went to
Amsterdam to be a servant in Rembrandt's household and
became his model and mistress during the last twenty
years of his life. It was first published in French in 1997,
and was translated into English in 2003. English author
James Long, who writes under the pen name Will
Davenport, approached Rembrandt from a different angle,
though still with an interest in the artist's love life. His
novel The Painter is about a modern woman who discovers
a diary written by one of her ancestors, a ship captain's wife who inspired a rivalry
between Rembrandt and the poet Andrew Marvell for her love.
Sarah Emily Miano's 2006 novel Van Rijn is a more traditional type of historical
novel. The protagonist is a young publisher of Rembrandt's own time who arranges
to meet the aging artist in 1667. He falls in love with a woman poet who is similarly
drawn to Rembrandt.

A Novel About the Dutch Artist Frans Hals

A somewhat older contemporary of Rembrandt was Frans Hals, who was especially
known for his lively and often informal portraits. Michael Kernan's 1995 novel The
Lost Diaries of Frans Hals is about an impoverished modern graduate student who
takes on the job of translating some old notebooks found in a garage which appear
to be diaries written by Frans Hals. He becomes absorbed in the life of a witty,
charming man who was often as hard up for cash as the translator himself.

Novels Featuring Velzquez

Michael Gruber's novel The Forgery of
Venus is another that spans past and
present.
This novel is about a modern artist who
begins to have persistent, hallucinatory
"memories" of his life as the seventeenth
century Spanish court artist Diego
Velzquez. He experiences a vivid
impression of painting a beautiful nude
which suddenly turns up in the present.
Velzquez painted few nudes, but the one
we know of today is among his most famous paintings.
Revelations of a Spanish Infanta, a 1996 novel by Australian author Sallie Muirden,
is about Velzquez and a twelve-year-old infanta he painted in 1650. The story is
told from the perspectives of both Velzquez and the infanta.

The Ancient Link Between Art and Storytelling

The longing for love and the defiance of death: art is about everything stories are
about, so it's natural that writers would so often link art and story. They've been
doing it since the Stone Age, and novelists have not neglected that period either.
Martin Walker's 2002 novel The Caves of Prigord links
the present, the near past and the far distant past in a
story about a present-day art historian and the owner
of a mysterious slab of rock bearing the image of a bull
that resembles prehistoric Lascaux cave paintings in
the Prigord region of France. The story moves back
and forth between the present, World War II France
(where the present-day owner's father acquired the
rock painting) and some 17,000 years in the past,
when a human hand put color to the wall of a cave to create a painting of
unprecedented realism.

Part II:
Novels about Artists of the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries
by Margaret Donsbach

Back to Artists, Part I

A few European artists of the eighteenth century foreshadowed the dramatic
changes of the nineteenth century art world by breaking with the formal schools of
painting which strove for physically realistic precision. A sense of energy, even
disorder, leaped from their canvases to challenge the viewer emotionally. Goya was
among these, especially in his paintings about war.
The nineteenth century Pre-Raphaelites wished to portray spiritual qualities they
believed had been abandoned when artists adopted the formal academic styles of
artists like the Renaissance painter Raphael. Impressionist painters were more
interested in capturing the shimmer of light than in reproducing form. The
development of photography during the nineteenth century may have helped push
artists to create effects that remained impossible for the literal eye of the camera.
These creative pioneers, whose personal lives often echoed the experimental
freedom of their art, make appealing subjects for fiction.

Historical Novels about Goya

Two quite different novels about the eighteenth
century Spanish painter Francisco Goya were

published more than a half-century ago. Max White's 1946 novel In the Blazing
Light focused on Goya's love affair with the scandalous Maria Teresa, Duchess of
Alba.
Lion Feuchtwanger's 1951 novel, published in English translation as This is the
Hour, covers Goya's life during the Napoleonic Wars. Although his affair with the
duchess plays an important role in the story, the novel stresses his art and his
reaction to the Spanish government's repressive policies. In 1972, another novel
about Goya appeared, Stephen Marlowe's well-reviewed Colossus: A Novel About
Goya and a World Gone Mad .
By 2000, it was probably time for another novel about Goya and the Duchess of
Alba. Jon Manchip White, the author of a nonfiction biography of another Spanish
painter, Diego Velzquez, provided it: Solo Goya: Goya and the Duchess of Alba at
Sanlcar.

The Raft of the Medusa

On July 17, 1816, a French ship, the Medusa, ran
aground off the coast of Africa. The inexperienced
captain halted the crew's efforts to free the ship by
throwing heavy cargo items overboard. High status
passengers escaped on the ship's few lifeboats. They
tried to tow some of the other passengers on a flimsily
constructed raft, but soon ran into difficulties and cut it
loose. Insufficient rations and fighting and cannibalism
among the raft passengers reduced their numbers. By
the time they were rescued, only fifteen of the
hundred-plus passengers on the raft remained alive.
The news created a scandal in France.
The young French painter Thodore Gricault based his
painting The Raft of the Medusa on accounts of the
wreck. He went to great lengths to make it realistic,
studying bodies in the morgue and bringing body parts
to his studio to watch how they decayed. His painting
blends Romanticism in its treatment of the figures and their placement on the
canvas, with a harshness similar to that of Goya's paintings about warfare. Arabella
Edge's 2006 novel The Raft (titled The God of Spring in the U.S.) is about Gricault
and this painting.
Julian Barnes also wrote about it in Chapter 5 of his novel A History of the World in
10 Chapters.

Historical Novels about the Pre-Raphaelites

In the mid-nineteenth century, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was among the founders of a
new school of painting: the Pre-Raphaelites. They rejected the formal influence of
the carefully posed figures in Renaissance paintings. Instead, they emphasized
emotion and spirituality. Their personal lives often reflected the passions within
their art, making them attractive subjects for historical novels.

Paddy Kitchen's 1981

novel The Golden Veil is
loosely based on the life
of Elizabeth Siddal, who
modeled for several of
the Pre-Raphaelite
artists. As dedicated as
the artists, she posed in
a tub of water for John
Everett Millais's Ophelia, without complaint, long after the warming lamps went out
and the water grew icy cold, contracting pneumonia as a result. Siddal married
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and was the model for some of his most celebrated
paintings.
Another of Rossetti's favorite models was Jane Burden, a beautiful but uneducated
girl from a working class family. After marrying Rossetti's protg William Morris,
she embarked on an enthusiastic educational program, learning French and Italian
and studying piano with private tutors. This fascinating woman is the subject of
Elizabeth Hickey's 2008 novel The Wayward Muse.

Historical Novels about Impressionist Painters

The impressionist movement in art arose during the 1860s, with artists who aspired
to capture light itself on their canvases. They were among the first to take their
easels outdoors and paint in natural light instead of in the studio. Art critics and the
public were shocked by this style because it was so radically different from the art
they were used to.
Irving Stone wrote about one of the pioneering French Impressionists, Camille
Pissarro, in his 1985 novel Depths of Glory. Pissarro, sometimes called the "Father
of Impressionism," greatly influenced some of the Impressionists who are more
famous today, such as Monet and Renoir, and served as a mentor for younger
painters like Czanne and Gaughin. The "bohemian" lifestyles of these painters was
almost as shocking to people of their time as their new style of painting.
Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and
other Impressionist painters were close friends who
supported each other when the public was not ready to
accept their work. The women who loved them were also
part of this circle of support. They modeled for their artist
lovers, as the artists did for each other. Stephanie
Cowell's 2010 novel Claude and Camille (see review)
portrays not only the relationship between Claude Monet
and Camille Doncieux, who became his first wife, but also
the desperate financial straits the Impressionists
struggled with and the way the helped each other when
times were tough.
In her 2007 novel Luncheon of the Boating Party, Susan
Vreeland writes about thirty-nine-year-old Auguste
Renoir, struggling for recognition and income as the
Impressionist movement separates into factions. His
creation of the painting titled Luncheon of the Boating Party was a triumph not only
of his painterly vision and skills, but also of recruiting and managing the men and
women who served as his models.

Another Impressionist, Paul Cezanne, is the subject of a 2009 mystery novel by

Barbara Corrado Pope, Cezanne's Quarry (see review). If Cezanne was never
actually the subject of a murder investigation, the novel does explore some of the
very real mysteries about Cezanne's life and painting.
Mary Cassatt grew up in a comfortable, upper-class American
family who considered travel to Europe and lessons in drawing
and painting a standard part of a young woman's education.
They did not, however, expect their daughter to become a
professional artist. Cassatt, who lived much of her life in
France, had to struggle against both her parents' expectations
and the art world's lack of support for women students and
professionals. Harriett Scott Chessman's 2002 novel Lydia
Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper is about the close
relationship between Mary and her sister Lydia, who suffered
from Bright's Disease. The two women, neither of whom
married, lived together, and Mary painted Lydia often.
The portrait-painter John Singer Sargent is not usually considered an impressionist
painter, but he used impressionist techniques to great effect in many of his
portraits. His 1884 painting of the beautiful Paris socialite Virginie Gautreau in a
low-cut black dress created a scandal and ruined her reputation. Gioia Diliberto's
2003 novel I Am Madame X is about the woman in the painting.
While preparing to write Luncheon of the Boating Party and other novels, Vreeland
wrote numerous short stories about artists and the people touched by their art.
These stories are collected in her 2004 book Life Studies. Most are set in the
nineteenth century Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods.

Historical Novels about the

Post-Impressionist Artists
The French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec suffered
childhood injuries to his legs that left him partly
lame and unusually short. He spent much of his time
at the Moulin Rouge, a Paris nightclub. The dancers,
prostitutes and other denizens of Paris nightlife
accepted him in a way polite society did not. He
repaid the favor with exuberantly colorful paintings
that, even to modern eyes, have a bit of an edge.
Pierre La Mure's 1950 novel about Toulouse-Lautrec,
Moulin Rouge, was made
into a movie in 1952
starring Jos Ferrer and
Zsa Zsa Gabor, which
received an Academy
Award nomination for Best
Picture.
Among the most important Post-Impressionist painters
was the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, whose
shimmering paintings took Impressionism a step farther
with their sometimes surprising colors and surrealistic
forms. He suffered from bouts of mental instability,
during one of which he is famously supposed to have cut

off part of his left ear. Irving Stone's 1934 novel about van Gogh, Lust for Life,
explores this artist's life, as dramatic and unusual as his art. The novel established
Stone as a successful author.
Sunflowers (see review), a 2009 novel by art historian Sheramy Bundrick, imagines
the relationship between van Gogh and the young prostitute in Arles, France, to
whom he is said to have presented his severed ear. Alyson Richman's 2006 novel
The Last Van Gogh is about van Gogh and Marguerite Gachet, the twenty-one-yearold daughter of the country doctor who treats him in 1890 during the last months
of his life. Van Gogh in fact painted Marguerite Gachet several times, and the novel
imagines their story as a tragic love story.
Lars Hertervig was a nineteenth century Norwegian
artist who painted landscapes with an element of the
surreal to them. Jon Fosse's 1995 novel Melancholy
is about Hertervig's struggle with mental illness.
The French artist Paul Gaughin did his most
characteristic and best-known work in Tahiti. His
maternal grandmother Flora Tristan, whom he never
knew, was a feminist and political activist in Peru. In
his 2003 novel The Way to Paradise, Mario Vargas
Llosa writes about the contrasting yet similar lives of grandmother and grandson.

A Novel about Gustav Klimt

The end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the
twentieth saw the birth of a new style of art, Art Nouveau
the "new art". A European enthusiasm for Japanese wood
block prints influenced the works of artists during this time,
who experimented with flowing and stylized forms inspired
by nature. Gustav Klimt's stylized paintings, full of
decorative motifs, are among the finest examples of Art
Nouveau. In her 2005 novel The Painted Kiss, Elizabeth
Hickey writes about this controversial Viennese artist and
his romantic relationship with one of his students.

Art in Fiction
A selection of titles with artwork or artists as inspiration

Pat Barker, Life Class

The lives of London art students during the first world war

Kunal Basu, The Miniaturist

Imagination and intrigue in sixteenth century India

Vanora Bennett, Portrait of an Unknown Woman

Holbein and the More family; passion, politics, religion and art

Ciaran Carson, Shamrock Tea

The Arnolfini portrait and Bruges in a prose fantasy

Tracey Chevalier, Girl with the Pearl Earring

Vermeer's life and work

Tracey Chevalier, The Lady and the Unicorn

Story of the famous tapestries

Lewis Crofts, Pornographer of Vienna

Life of Egon Schiele

David Dabydeen, A Harlot's Progress

A tale reinventing Hogarth's 1732 painting

William Davenport, The Painter

Story of Rembrandt's love and art

Debra Dean, Madonnas of Leningrad

The Hermitage Museum and the invigorating power of art

Michele Desbordes, The Maid's Request

Enigmatic relationship between Italian painter and his servant
in Renaissance France

David Dickinson, Death of an Old Master

Murder of a Victorian art critic

Gioia Diliberto, I am Madame X

Tale of the mysterious John Singer Sargent model

Sarah Dunant, Birth of Venus

Church, art and love in Renaissance Florence

Peter Everett, Matisse's War

Lives of French writers and artists under German occupation

Leslie Forbes, Waking Raphael

Raphael art restoration in 1930s Urbino

Margaret Forster, Keeping the World Away

Imaginative journey of a Gwen John painting across the
twentieth century

Michael Frayn, Headlong

An art historian's fascination with Brueghel

Nell Freudenberger,The Dissident

About love, art and identity

Patrick Gale, Notes from an Exhibition

Intriguing life story of a Cornish bipolar artist

Sue Gee, Earth and Heaven

Slade art students between the wars

Miranda Glover, Masterpiece

Extraordinary life of a fictional artist

Mary Gordon, Spending

New York artist in search of a male muse

Neil Griffiths, Saving Caravaggio

Thriller set in Italy about art theft and obsession

Elizabeth Hickey, The Painted Kiss

Gustave Klimt and his lover Emilie Floege in beautiful Vienna

Suri Hustvedt, What I loved

Fictional artist/collector as main character

Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World

Japan 1948; life of a celebrated fictional artist

Alexandra Lapierre, Artemisia

Fame and scandal of Artemisia Gentileschi

Joan Lingard, The Kiss

Rodin and Gwen John remembered

David Lipsky, The Art Fair

Portrayal of the New York art scene

Mario Vargas Llosa, The Way to Paradise

The journeys of Paul Gauguin and his pioneering grandmother

MR Lorric, Floating Book

Fifteenth century Venice and the art of printing

Shena Mackay, The Artist's Widow

Reflections at a retrospective Brit art exhibition

Deirdre Madden, Authenticity

Three fictional artist's lives link

Sylvie Matton, Rembrandt's Whore

Turbulent era in seventeenth century Dutch society

Deborah Moggach,Tulip Fever

Dutch painting and Amsterdam of 1630s

Barbara Mujica, Frida

Fictional biography of Frida Kahlo

Atle Naess, Doubting Thomas

Scandalous life of Caravaggio

Howard Norman, The Museum Guard

Life examined at a Nova Scotian museum

Gregory Norminton, Arts and Wonders

Fantastical story of a dwarf art forger

Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red

Sixteenth century Islamic miniaturist in atmosphere of crime
and devotion

Christopher Peachment, Caravaggio

First person narrative of the imagined Caravaggio

Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Flanders Panel

Restoration and forgery set in the art world of modern Madrid

Alyson Richman, The Mask Carver's Son

Japanese artist forsakes heritage to embrace the new

Manuel Rivas, Vermeer's Milkmaid and other Stories

Short stories from this painter of words

James Runcie, The Colour of Heaven

Fourteenth century Venice and the search for lapis lazuli

Carolyn See, The Handyman

The nature of creativity through the eyes of an aspiring artist

Jonathan Smith, Summer in February

A speech against modern art by Alfred Munnings takes one of
his listeners back forty years

Jose Carlos Somoza, Art of Murder

Hyperdramatic art where people are the canvases

Roma Tearne, Mosquito

Love, art and civil war in Sri Lanka, by a significant artistauthor

James Twining, The Gilded Seal

An art theft thriller, part of an exciting series

Jane Urquhart, The Underpainter

Story of a fictional modernist painter

Salley Vickers, Miss Garnet's Angel

Venice; discovery and art restoration

Salley Vickers, Other Side of You

Combining psychiatry and a Caravaggio scholar

Susan Vreeland, The Passion of Artemisia

Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian Baroque artist

Giles Waterfield, The Hound in the Left-Hand Corner

Comic novel involving a Gainsborough painting and the
museum world

Paul Watkins, The Forger

Paris 1939; facing dilemmas over art forgery

James Wilson, The Dark Clue

Victorian second rate artist and would be biographer of Turner