THE PAINTER

About the Book

THE PAINTER, inspired by the life of an Italian artist who emigrated to America after World War II, plunges the reader into the life of fictional Lorenzo Frasca, his life of daring achievement, grinding employment, moral struggle with the cruel insanity of his young wife, tender attachment to her fragile daughter, his transcendent love of an older woman, and his ultimate creation of a masterpiece for a Spanish prince who becomes his patron. American and European cultures nourish his maturation. The artist’s history is told to and through Luke Cosic, a chance dinner companion who is subsumed by the painter and his art. The fifteenth century classic, Cennino d’Andrea Cennini’s ‘Il Libro dell’Arte’’, (The Craftsman’s Handbook), is the foundation of Lorenzo’s character and work.

About the Author

THE PAINTER is Lois Swann’s third novel. She is the author as well of two historical novels, THE MISTS OF MANITTOO, winner of the Ohioana Library Association Award for First Novels, and its sequel, TORN COVENANTS. Her early poetry received the Bohem Memorial Prize and THE GREAT AMERICAN POETRY SHOW recently published poems excerpted from her current collection, PERFECT LOVER.

While the writing of fiction and poetry has always been her constant occupation, Lois Swann’s career embraces theatre, teaching, and business. She travels regularly to the American Southwest and to Eastern and Western Europe.

Lois Swann, a native New Yorker, is the mother of two grown children and lives on Cape Cod with her husband, a sea captain and watercolorist.