Artists in Novels

Since the publication of Girl in Hyacinth Blue and Girl with a Pearl Earring, historical fiction about art and artists has remained popular. The following titles are just a few examples of novels featuring artists.

Sunflowers, by Sheramy Bundrick is about the relationship between Vincent Van Gogh and a prostitute named Rachel, who becomes his model and his love during the final two years of his life.

The Passion of Artemisia, by Susan Vreeland features lesser-known 17^th –century artist Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman elected to the Accademia dell’Arte in Florence. Vreeland’s other novels are also about artists and their work, including Girl in Hyacinth Blue (Vermeer) and Luncheon of the Boating Party (Renoir).

I Am Madame X, by Gioia Diliberto is a fictional memoir of Virginie Gautreau, the model for John Singer Sargent’s painting, Portrait of Madame X, which is featured on the book cover.

American 19^th-century painter Mary Cassatt’s work is the subject of Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper, by Harriet Scott Chessman. Lydia, Mary’s older sister who was dying of Bright's Disease, was the model for a series of paintings reproduced in this novel.

The Anatomy Lesson by Nina Siegal imagines the background story of Rembrandt’s first masterpiece, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholaes Tulp.

These titles and many more, including novels about Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, are available in our fiction collection. Please ask a reference librarian for more recommendations.