Ross King (born July 16, 1962) is a Canadian novelist and non-fiction writer. He began his career by writing two works of historical fiction in the 1990s, later turning to non-fiction, and has since written several critically acclaimed and best-selling historical works.

Career and works

King was born in

Estevan Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History The ...

, Saskatchewan, Canada and was raised in the nearby village of

North Portal North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

. He received his undergraduate university education at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchew ...

, where in 1984 he completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in English Literature. Continuing his studies at the University of Regina, he received a Master of Arts degree in 1986 upon completing a thesis on the poet T. S. Eliot. Later he achieved a PhD from

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

in Toronto (1992), where he specialized in eighteenth-century English literature. King moved to England to take up a position as a post-doctoral research fellow at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. It was at this time that he began writing his first novel. King's first novel, ''Domino'', (1995), tells the story of a castrato singer seen through the experience of an aspiring painter in the London of the 1770s. In 1998, King published ''Ex-Libris'', his second work of historical fiction. Set in London and Prague, it chronicles how a London bookseller's search in the 1660s for a missing manuscript leads him unwittingly into a world of deception and murder. ''Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence'' (2000) describes how the Italian architect

Filippo Brunelleschi Filippo Brunelleschi ( , , also known as Pippo; 1377 – 15 April 1446), considered to be a founding father of Renaissance architecture, was an Italian architect, designer, and sculptor, and is now recognized to be the first modern engineer, p ...

designed what still stands as the largest masonry dome ever built: the dome of the cathedral of

Santa Maria del Fiore Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

, completed in 1436. ''Brunelleschi's Dome'' marked King's transition from novelist to writer of art histories and biographies. ''Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling,'' (2002), follows the four arduous years during which

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

painted the ceiling of the

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its name ...

amid the political and religious intrigues of early sixteenth-century Rome. King's next book, ''The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism'' (2006), was met by much critical acclaim and considerable commercial success. By contrasting the works and lives of the French painters

Ernest Meissonier Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (; 21 February 181531 January 1891) was a French Classicist painter and sculptor famous for his depictions of Napoleon, his armies and military themes. He documented sieges and manoeuvres and was the teacher of Éd ...

and

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

, the book chronicles the dramatic transition by which the

Impressionist painters Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

changed the artistic vision of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century. King received Canada's 2006 Governor-General's Award for Non-Fiction for this book. His next project, part of the

Eminent Lives The Eminent Lives series is HarperCollins' series of "brief biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures." The general editor of the series was James Atlas. The series includes books by: * Robert Gottlieb on George Balanchine * P ...

series, was ''Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power'' (2007), a biography of

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

in which King illustrates the personal, social and political development of one of history's most famous political theorists. ''Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven'' (2010) looked at the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...

organization of Canadian landscape artists that launched Canada's first nationalist art movement in the decades after the First World War. For ''Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling,'' King was nominated in 2003 for a National Book Critics Circle Award. ''Brunelleschi's Dome'' was on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle, and was the recipient of several awards including the 2000 Book Sense Nonfiction Book of the Year. He was awarded Canada's 2012

Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a non-fiction book written in English. Since 1987 it is one of fourteen Governor General's Awards for Litera ...

for ''Leonardo and the Last Supper'', his examination of

da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's iconic 15th century religious mural. In 2017, he won the

RBC Taylor Prize The RBC Taylor Prize (2000–2020), formerly known as the Charles Taylor Prize, is a Canadian literary award, presented by the Charles Taylor Foundation to the best Canadian work of literary non-fiction. It is named for Charles P. B. Taylor, a ...

for his book ''Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies''. In 2021, King published ''The Bookseller of Florence,'' a nonfiction book about

Vespasiano da Bisticci Vespasiano da Bisticci (1421 – 1498) was an Italian humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious ...

Personal life

He lectures frequently in both Europe and North America, and has given guided tours of

Florence Cathedral Florence Cathedral, formally the (; in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy ( it, Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally c ...

and of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. King lives in Woodstock, England with his wife Melanie.

Awards

*2000: Nonfiction Book of the Year citation, Book Sense, for ''Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture'' *2003: Governor-General's Literary Award (Canada) nomination for ''Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling'' *2003: National Book Critics Circle Award nomination for ''Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling'' *2006: Governor-General's Literary Award (Canada) for Non-Fiction for ''The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism'' *2012:

for ''Leonardo and the Last Supper'' *2017:

for ''Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies''

Bibliography

* ''Domino'' (1995) * ''Ex-Libris'' (1998) * ''Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral in Florence'' (2000) * '' Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling'' (2002) * ''The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism'' (2006) * ''Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power'' (2007) * ''Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven'' (2010) * '' Leonardo and the Last Supper'' (2011) * ''Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies'' (2016) * ''The Bookseller of Florence'' (2021)

References

External links

Ross King
– Ross King's official web site {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Ross 1962 births Living people Canadian biographers Canadian male non-fiction writers Male biographers Writers from Saskatchewan People from Estevan Governor General's Award-winning non-fiction writers