Many times, the influence of literature on painting results in great works of art, while this inspiration has also reciprocally contributed to turning famous paintings into the flesh of a literary classic.

From a young woman who wore the most famous pearl in history to the omnipresent Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, we will travel between galleries and libraries in order to unravel these 4 books inspired by famous paintings.

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown's most widely read work took as a reference the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci in an intrigue set mainly in the famous Louvre Museum in Paris, where the work is peppered with a thousand daily flashes of Japanese telephones. The work, known for its ambiguity, contained the code that would lead Robert Langdon through his quest to discover the whereabouts of the Holy Grail. Other famous paintings in the gallery, such as The Virgin of the Rocks, also had their presence throughout the pages of the famous thriller published in 2003.

The girl of the pearl

The novel published by Tracy chevalier in 1999 he told the story of the maid who served as inspiration for the famous painting of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, also known as "Girl in a Turban" or "The Mona Lisa of the North." The novel, set in the town of Delft, in the Netherlands, narrates the arrival at Vermeer's house of a poor young woman named Griet, who after becoming his servant ends up posing for his most famous painting wearing the pearl earrings of his wife. this.

The goldfinch

The painting The Goldfinch, completed by the Dutch painter Carel Fabritius in 1654, was used by the writer Donna tartt as cover, title and narrative symbol in his homonymous novel, Pulitzer Prize Winner in 2014. The importance of the painting in the novel lies in the relationship between the protagonist, Theo, and his mother, a faithful admirer of this work of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where they meet hours before a bomb mark the future of the rest of the novel.

The Flanders table

The famous novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte was inspired by the oil painting Woman by Chancellor Rolin, by the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, to give life to the fictional painting The Chess Game by Peter Van Huys, the cornerstone of the spiral of mysteries that occur in this novel around the painting discovered by the protagonist, Julia. A work that could contain a secret that would change the history of Europe.

These 4 books inspired by famous paintings they confirm the close relationship between the pictorial arts and the letters, a reciprocal link that has also resulted in great works that were born from a book; a review that we may bring you shortly.

What other references to famous paintings have you found in a book?