What I loved about Pillars of the Earth is that I learned A LOT about life in that time by simply reading about the goings on of what needs to be done to accomplish x y z task. I liked that it didn't force-teach these things, you just picked up on it while reading the narrative. In this case obviously with the architecture of the cathedral and the religious politics of the time. I also appreciated the show of hardships of life in that century, for example leaving a baby behind because you can't feed it and not just writing in some cop out coincidence to allow the baby to remain with its family.
I would LOVE a similar narrative style, but with a focus on visual art (painting, drawing, sculpture) rather than the cathedral like in PotE. Meaning, a story with a slice-of-life narrative with visual art being the thing that is being done, and as such you learn about art and creation of art at that time (medieval preferred but renaissance OK) by context of what the characters say/do.
I have a really difficult time latching onto a book and want to be sure what I pick up next will fill the shoes of what I'm craving.