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 artist-author - 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
Related links
- Recommended Reads
- Hampshire Big Read
- Monthly Book Choice
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