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