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Michael Dean is a graduate, in History, of Worcester College, Oxford, and has a Masters in applied linguistics from Edinburgh University. He is the author of a novel, Thorn, and Chomsky: A Beginner's Guide.
I, Hogarth: A Novel
by Michael Dean
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ISBN-13:
9781468307177
- Publisher: The Overlook Press
- Publication date: 01/10/2013
- Sold by: Barnes & Noble
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 272
- Sales rank: 260,986
- File size: 860 KB
- Age Range: 18 Years
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The great eighteenth century portraitist comes to life in this “gritty, bawdy and funny” rags to riches novel told in the voice of the artist himself (The New York Times).
William Hogarth was London’s artist par excellence, and his work—especially his satirical series of “modern moral subjects”—supplies the most enduring vision of the ebullience, enjoyments, and social iniquities of the eighteenth century.
And in I, Hogarth, he tells a ripping good yarn.
From a childhood spent in a debtor’s prison to his death in the arms of his wife, Hogarth recounts the incredible story of how he maneuvered his way into the household of prominent artist Sir James Thornhill, and from there to become one of England’s best portrait painters.
Through his marriage to Jane Thornhill, his fight for the Copyright Act, his unfortunate dip into politics, and his untimely death, “the voice in which Dean’s Hogarth tells his own story is rich and persuasive . . . Like stepping into a Hogarth painting” (The New York Times).
“A brilliant exercise in imagination and storytelling.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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The New York Times Book Review - Andrea Wulf
The voice in which Dean's Hogarth tells his own story is rich and persuasive, seemingly authentic. Gritty, bawdy and funny, his narrative is like stepping into a Hogarth painting…Dean's prose feels true to the 18th century without being irritatingly "historical"…[he] paints with words as Hogarth did with his brush.Publishers Weekly
William Hogarth, famous for inventing a “moral” storytelling series of paintings and engravings he called Progresses (including the Rake’s Progress and the Harlot’s Progress), turns out to have had a progress of his own—from poor child to society artist, from engraver’s apprentice to painter and lobbyist for copyright law, from frequenter of whorehouses to happily married man and back again, from ignored to lauded to mocked—that would require a Hogarth to depict. Lacking such an artist, we have Michael Dean’s biographical novel, which draws on Hogarth’s own writing and a range of other sources. That may make the novel sound boring, but it’s not, largely because Hogarth—a likable self-promoter and self-described “pug” of a man—makes for highly diverting company. It helps that he knew everyone and went everywhere, and that Dean is good at showing his foibles and his artistic process. Hogarth’s eye for human frailty and nose for news, coupled with his way with line, made him the perfect artist for the first half of the 18th century—a time when high and low mingled at the theater, the debtor’s prison, and the brothel. If the BBC hasn’t already optioned this, it should get a move on: Hogarth’s life, as Dean portrays it, is an educational but sexily pleasurable costume drama waiting to happen. (Jan.)From the Publisher
Praise for the work of Michael Dean:"A witty, intelligent black comedy . . . convincing background detail." —Carla Nayland, Historical Fiction
"A fascinating story, intelligently and perceptively written." —Karen Hayes, author of Letting Go
"Forget Dan Brown. This is real art history, real conspiracy, and really relevant." —World on Sunday
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Praise for the work of Michael Dean:
"A witty, intelligent black comedy . . . convincing background detail." --Carla Nayland, Historical Fiction
"A fascinating story, intelligently and perceptively written." --Karen Hayes, author of Letting Go
"Forget Dan Brown. This is real art history, real conspiracy, and really relevant." --World on Sunday
Library Journal
The title captures the classic grandiosity of the life lived by the painter and engraver whose name has become synonymous with an era. William Hogarth narrates the story of his rise from poverty in London to Sarjeant Painter to the King in language that evokes his most famous images. Along the way, the artist wins—and almost loses—the love of the gentle but keenly intelligent Jane Thornhill, the daughter of one of his artist heroes. Crammed with lovingly described sights that intoxicate the imagination, Hogarth's London emerges as the great romance of his life. While the artist's fall from public favor ultimately kills him, Jane's love mollifies the sting of cruel disapprobation. VERDICT The skill with historical subjects Dean demonstrated in his first novel, Thorn, in which he imagines a friendship between Spinoza and Rembrandt, is just as dazzling in this novel. Hogarth's voice brings 18th-century London vividly to life, especially with his earthy metaphors. Readers who keep a reference of Hogarth's works at hand will delight in Dean's attention to detail.—John G. Matthews, Washington State Univ. Libs., PullmanKirkus Reviews
Dean (Thorn, 2011) imagines the life, spirit and art of the English artist William Hogarth. Born in 1697 to a naïve and inept Latin scholar and an intemperate, dissatisfied mother, Hogarth was apprenticed to an engraver, only to maneuver his way into tutelage from and assistantship to the court painter Sir James Thornhill. Hogarth's family fractures when father Richard lands in debtors' prison. Mother and children are assisted by Anthony da Costa, a Portuguese-Jewish moneylender. In da Costa's mansion, Hogarth glimpses Kate, a strumpet, the vision unleashing the artist's lifelong appreciation for fleshly sensuality, the dark side of which becomes the incurable "French pox." Apprenticing as an engraver, Hogarth frequents Lovejoy's bagnio, there meeting John Rakesby, later revealed to be John Thornhill, son of Sir James, a prominent artist. Dean's narrative of young Hogarth winnowing his way into Sir James' household shines with authenticity, right down to Hogarth's seduction of young Jane Thornhill. Dean's deciphering of Hogarth's art is as superb as his rendering of the streets of ribald and indecorous London, packed with drunks and thieves, privileged and poor. Dean offers the stories behind Hogarth's seminal works--the South Seas Scheme, A Harlot's Progress--and discusses Hogarth's lobbying for the Engraver's Copyright Act and support of Capt. Thomas Coram's quest for a foundling hospital. The fictional autobiographical narrative of the robust and complicated, sensual and sensitive Hogarth intrigues, but what gives the book its resonance is Dean's learned exploration of the depth and breadth--the sight, sound and stink--of Georgian London. A brilliant exercise in imagination and storytelling.