Historical Novels About Artists

I've just posted an article at www.HistoricalNovels.info on the numerous historical novels about artists, starting with Tracy Chevalier's 1999 bestseller Girl With A Pearl Earring. There were so many, I had to cut it short at the 17th century and save the rest for a Part II. Still, I'm sure I've missed some, and would love to be tipped off if any favorites of yours are missing.

Did you know there were three novels about Dutch artists of the 17th century (two about Vermeer, one about a Vermeer-like artist), all published in 1999? An amazing coincidence, I think!

You could add The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece, it takes place in modern times but jumps back to Caravaggio's life.

Margad, I just love your website!

Most of the titles that I can think of that you missed are all probably lined up for part II, so probably not much new here, but in no order, here are some ideas:

Susan Vreeland's other books, The Forest Lover and Luncheon of the Boating Party.

Lust for Life, Irving Stone

Quattrocento, James McKean

Ross King's Brunelleschi's Dome, which is non-fiction, but reads like a novel.

Chasing Vermeer, Blue Balliet

The Lady and the Unicorn, Tracy Chevalier

The Forgery of Venus, Michael Gruber

If I think of anymore, I'll post again.

Edited to delete The Picture of Dorian Gray, which isn't historical fiction.

I haven't read, but on my wishlist:

The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey - Gustav Klimt

The Wayward Muse by Elizabeth Hickey - painter Rosetti

With Violets by Elizabeth Robards, comes out in October - Manet

I liked The Lost Diaries of Frans Hals by Michael Kernan -two stories -present day New York and 17th century Holland.
An interesting story about the search for Olympia
Alias Olympia by Eunice Lipton is not fiction but worth looking at.
My favourite is Utrillo's Mother by Sarah Bayliss. The novel is about French painter Suzanne Valadon.
Two books by Canadian author Jane Urquhart The Underpainter and The Stone Carvers are historically based although not featuring real artists -except for a role for Rockwell Kent in The Underpainter.

I wrote about The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland in the Native Amercians thread. It talks about Emily Carr, a painter who painted Native Americans and totem pole among other things. I really enjoyed that book.

Thanks, everyone! There are definitely some new ones in here for me. The nonfiction books are helpful, too, because when I write reviews of novels, I like to include a few references to nonfiction books for people interested in exploring the subjects further.

Pat Barker's recent Life Class occurs around the Great War, and includes a real teacher who was infamously tyrannical there.

Some other books
Susan Vreeland's book of short stories Life Studies
One terrific chapter in A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes on the Raft of the Medusa. (Chapter 5 Shipwreck)

Also Naked Came I about Rodin by David Weiss

More good ones, thanks! I'm developing quite an extensive list - this may have to be a 3-part article. I'm going to work on Part II over the next few days and hopefullly post it next week.

Many thanks, Margad, for including The Botticelli Trilogy in your fine article. Art-historicals is a new genre and a very satisfying one. I once tried getting the National Gallery in London to stock A Tabernacle for the Sun but they affected horror and said ‘We do not sell fiction in our shop’. Now they have a whole section!
Linda Proud

What about The Birth of Venus? Because I just started this book last night I'm not sure if it would fit the list. However, it is about a woman falling in love with a non-famous Renaissance artist.

I also forgot The World to Come by Dara Horn. Chagall and one of his paintings figure in the plot of this book.
Another novel that takes part of the story of Artemisia Gentileschi's life as the basis of the plot is Pauline Holdstock's Beyond Measure

LOL, Linda! It's always nice when times change in a good way.

Thanks for the new suggestions. Beyond Measure looks very interesting - that will go on my TBR as well as being added to Part I. The World to Come will go in Part II - there's going to be a whole section about art theft, with some pretty interesting novels in it.

I'm debating about Birth of Venus. I think the artist in that novel is fictional, which doesn't necessarily rule it out, but makes categorizing it a little more difficult.

One or two of the earlier suggestions were YA novels, which is a whole category that is currently not included in my website. Maybe next year. It's a section well worth developing, but will be a lot of work!

Diane Haeger's novel The Ruby Ring is about a fictional artist, but contains actual artists in it as well: DiVinci and Michelangelo. It's fluffy fiction, but decent if you like that kind of stuff.

I haven't read the book, yet, but the artist had an interesting life and the author just needed to do a half decent job of telling the story. Painter in a Savage Land: The Strange Saga of the First European Artist in North America. Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues is the name of the artist and his historical significance far surpasses his talent.

Mademoiselle Victorine by Debra Finerman - fictionalized account of a famed Parisian courtesan who was friends/lovers? with Manet.

Just finished an ARC called With Violets by Elizabeth Robards. It's also about Edouard Manet and a french artist by the name of Berthe Morisot who is infatuated with Manet. This guy really got around.

Don't forget (Of Human Bondage) by Maugham.

What about The Painter From Shanghai? An excellent novel about a lesser-known female post-impressionist (I think) in China.

I just finished The Blood of Flowers, which revolves around anonymous Persian rug makers in the 17th century. Wonderful!

if you consider photographers to be artists (which i do) then check out The Mercury Visions of Louis Daguerre: A Novel by Dominic Smith.

Second on the "if you consider photographers to be artists" ... which I do as well, check out Afterimage by Helen Humphreys. It's reall good and Humphrys' writing sucks you in. It is fictionally based on the life of Julia Margaret Cameron, a 19th century Victorian photographer who was well before her time, both in technical skill and the art of her posed subjects. It's fascinating and enjoyable.

I just finished Frida's Bed by Slavenka Drakulic -about the life of Frida Kahlo- excellent fiction take on her life.

Last year I read The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland. It's about the artist Emily Carr who painted pictures of Native Americans in British Columbia during the early 1900's. I enjoyed it.

I also read The Forest Lover and enjoyed it very much.

Irving Stone also wrote a novel about Camille Pissarro, Depths Of Glory

There are two novels by Grace Tiffany that you might want to place in your Renaissance category: My Father had a Daughter (http://www.librarything.com/work/595515/33303423), a fictionalized treatment of William's daughter Judith Shakespeare, and Will (http://www.librarything.com/work/148175/33780290), an imaginative reconstruction of Shakespeare's life. Both novels are well grounded in fact.

The People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.

Hm. How about Goya's Ghosts by Milos Forman? It's not exactly Goya's story but he's a main character in the story that revolves around a witch trial.

The World Before Her by Deborah Weisgall is a fictional treatment of the last year of George Eliot's life, and her visit to Venice with Cross, in 1880. Coupled with this, narrated in alternating chapters, is a parallel visit to Venice of a sculptor and her husband in 1980. Despite the weaknesses in the presentation of the 1980 artist, the fiction about George Eliot in Venice with Cross is well done. (Jim Whistler, meet Marian Cross.)

Stealing Athena by Karen Essex. Dual narrative about the creation of the Parthenon by Phidias in the time of Pericles, and about early 19th-century diplomat Lord Elgin, who collected many of the friezes and other marbles from the Acropolis ruins and transported them back to England. They were later sold to the British Museum (see their website, search "Elgin marbles").

The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham. It's about the life of Charles Strickland, a rather unpleasant man (based on
Paul Gauguin), who walks away from a comfortable middle-class life in England, abandoning his family, to pursue his obsession of painting.

Um The Agony and the Ecstasy? Michelangelo!

That, and Lust for Life, previously cited here, both great books!