The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell is the story of Lucrezia, 5th child of Cosimo di Medici. She is married to the Duke of Ferrara at 16 and in under a year she will be found dead.
The book covers her life from when she was a child who sees her father’s men bring a tiger secretly into the Castello at night. The day she meets her elder sister’s betrothed who after her sister’s death will become her husband. Her trusted nanny Sophia who speaks in a language that few understand. It’s an idyllic yet startlingly lonely upbringing with Lucrezia pushed to the side and always treated differently to her siblings.
Lucrezia’s talent and passion for art sustain her through the difficult times. She has an extraordinary talent and paints whenever she can. She has few true friends and these hours of losing herself in her painting are among her happiest times.
Once Lucrezia leaves the Medici palace to live with her husband she is truly isolated. She takes only a maid with her and must leave everything she knows. At Ferrara they even speak a different language which she does not yet understand. She can speak only to her maid and to her husband.
As ever women are treated badly in this time period. Some have an easier time than others. This book depicts well the fears of being a woman and the expectations of being married off young to someone you don’t know and don’t want to marry. It looks at the danger and suspicion that follow a woman’s actions and how an action or rumour can set a series of events in motion that leads to a woman’s downfall. Something that can be quite outside of their own choice or doing. The Medici girls are at least lucky that they receive an education.
This story is a fascinating look into how and why this child bride ends up dead less than a year after her marriage. Throughout I was guessing at what would happen and if her husband really wanted her dead. The Lucrezia and Duke of Ferrara from this story are real historical figures and the inspiration behind the Robert Browning poem My Last Duchess in which the Duke explains to a guest very calmly that he has killed his wife. Since the poem is largely fictionalised I was intrigued as to what the novel would suggest.
Another well written book by Maggie O’Farrell. I enjoyed Hamnet and I have enjoyed this one as well. It’s a large book but the pace felt right. I was engaged the whole time that I was reading it. O’Farrell has a real gift for setting the scene in historical fiction. She doesn’t spend time setting up the period atmosphere, she dives straight into the action and somehow the reader just finds themselves there in another time period. It’s a remarkable skill.
The marriage portrait that is both the subject of this book and the Robert Browning poem is said to be fictional. There is no evidence to suggest that such a painting ever really existed. There is only one known painting of Lucrezia or rather one sitting for a portrait with paintings from a few different angles. Some more flattering than others. This book really does bring alive this historical figure of which not much is known and gives her a full and interesting story.
I recommend this book, it’s a great read. A fascinating look into these people’s lives and this time period. It captures the opulence of those with money and the insecurity of a position of power held at that time. How easily a ruling family could be taken down. How little holds power together and how every member of a high class family would have to do their part to maintain their standing. A well crafted story around an interesting individual. Finally Lucrezia has a voice in her own story.
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