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Image of the author MAL (Michael Allen Lowe).

MAL

In addition to his expertise in painting, Lowe is also an Art Historian of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century Western European art. He holds an MLitt master of Letters degree in art history from the University of St Andrews in defense of his dissertation, entitled FUSELI & CIPRIANI​: Beauty vs Deformity; A Contemplation of Eighteenth-Century British Aesthetics. Lowe has also earned an Executive Master's Certification in museology from the Ecolé du Louvre, Paris. Apart from his esoteric blog and essays for academia, his debut epic novel of Historical Fiction FUSELI; OR, A VINDICATION OF THE MODERN PROMETHEUS (see below) was diligently researched throughout Europe and written in near total isolation over the course of ten years in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts.

FUSELI; or, a vindication of the modern prometheus.

This early nineteenth century historical fiction is written as the memoirs of Henry Fuseli, the man who inspired Mary Shelley’s character Dr. Victor Frankenstein. A Swiss born poet, minister, linguist, historian, entomologist, and later subversive British artist, and Royal Academician, Fuseli invented the most sublime paintings of Northern European Art, The Nightmare most famously.

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The Nightmare, c.1781. Courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI.

The Nightmare, c.1781. Courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI.

Portrait  of Henry Fuseli, James Northcote,  c.1778.  Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
The man who inspired Frankenstein

Portrait  of Henry Fuseli, James Northcote,  c.1778.  Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Cover image of 'FUSELI; OR, A VINDICATION OF THE MODERN PROMETHEUS,' bu author MAL (Michael Allen Lowe).

Front Cover Image: The Ladies of Hastings, Henry Fuseli, c.1799-1800. Courtesy of the Kunsthaus, Zurich. 

This factual yet darkly enchanting novel is relayed through an intimate conversation with Mary Wollstonecraft, who was among the first feminist authors, and is set during one of the most transformative and politically volatile periods in European history. It chronicles Fuseli's utterly fascinating life and extensive circle comprised of the most notable figures from the Age of Enlightenment.

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Written entirely in the vernacular of its time, Fuseli’s story begins in 1741 Zurich and takes the reader on an expansive Grand Tour throughout Europe, as he pursues his passions and the arts, from his patriotic youth through Germany and France, and self-directed study of art in Florence and Rome, to his later career as a painter in London. There he begins an amorous and scandalous love affair with Wollstonecraft, as he attempts to attain his legacy as the first Modern painter of his day.

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Expertly researched, this novel contains astonishing revelations which could rewrite history and deliver this complex and controversial artist to his rightful place as not merely a proto-Romantic painter, but the progenitor of modern Western art and true inspiration for Frankenstein.

'FUSELI; OR, A VINDICATION OF THE MODERN PROMETHEUS,' dust jacket design.

Dust Jacket Cover Design

FUSELI; OR A VINDICATION OF THE MODERN PROMETHEUS, a Historical Fiction. 138,576 words.

© 2023 by Michael Allen Lowe. All Rights Reserved.

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