Hogarth's epoch-defining paintings and engravings, such as Gin Lane and The Rake's Progress, are renowned. He was London's painter par excellence, and supplies the most enduring vision of the eighteenth century's ebullience, enjoyments and social iniquities. From his lifelong marriage to Jane Thornhill, his inability to have children, his time as one of England's best portrait painters, his old age and unfortunate dip into politics, and ultimately his death, I, Hogarth is the artist's life through his very own eyes.

Recommended for readers of Peter Ackroyd and Hilary Mantel, this novel charts Hogarth's personal story in four parts carefully blending the facts of his life with fiction, beginning with a childhood spent in a debtor's prison and ending with his death in the arms of his wife.

'Rich and persuasive. Gritty, bawdy and funny, Dean paints with words as Hogarth did with his brush' New York Times Book Review

'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' Publishers Weekly

Michael Dean studied history at 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. He lives in Colchester.