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El retrat de matrimoni
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Historical Fiction (2022)Plena de l’esperit i l’energia amb que Maggie O’Farrell va il·luminar la historia shakespeariana de Hamnet, El retrat de matrimoni ens transporta a la Itàlia del segle XVI. La Lucrezia, tercera filla del poderós duc de Medici, es una noia discreta i independent que creix feliç a l’ombra dels seus germans, lliure per observar els tresors de palau, explorar els passadissos secrets i espiar feines i converses clandestines. Li agrada aprendre coses, pintar i mirar les musaranyes, i no acaba d’encaixar gaire en el paper de duquessa, ni tampoc en les expectatives de la família. Pero quan la seva germana gran, que està promesa amb del duc de Ferrara, emmalalteix i es mor, la plàcida existencia de la Lucrezia quedarà sacsejada per sempre: amb prou feines quinze anys es veurà arrossegada a una nova vida a Ferrara amb el seu marit, Alfonso, que es un misteri per a ella. El retrat de matrimoni, una novel·la potent i evocadora, explora la fina membrana que separa la vida de la mort, un dels temes centrals de l’obra d’O’Farrell, i ofereix el retrat inoblidable d’una dona molt jove, castigada per ser diferent, que lluita per la seva supervivencia.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2022
14742 people are currently reading
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About the author
Maggie O'Farrell
41 books16.5k followersMaggie O'Farrell (born 1972, Coleraine Northern Ireland) is a British author of contemporary fiction, who features in Waterstones' 25 Authors for the Future. It is possible to identify several common themes in her novels - the relationship between sisters is one, another is loss and the psychological impact of those losses on the lives of her characters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 19,927 reviews
August 9, 2024
Marriage was her destiny, but death at a very young age was her fate.
The canvas the author paints in this ‘Marriage Portrait’ is Lucrezia’s story. A powerful and evocative reimagining / retelling of the true story of 16-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici, whose untimely and suspicious death was believed by many to be the work of her husband.
Skilfully written with sharp contrasts between the beautiful imagery created and the sad story of Lucz’s short life. I knew I had to be prepared for a sobering read because this brilliantly crafted story was drawn on real historical events. However, what made this special, apart from its authenticity, was the writing style that leaves you spellbound and sorrowful but also emotionally engaged. Feelings and sentiment I have come to expect with books written by the talented author of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell.
Raw, evocative, compelling, and immersive.
The Plot
Two powerful families unite through marriage (the House of Tuscany and the House of Ferrara) but the ending is anything but happy, as one powerless girl, isolated from her family and in the clutches of her dominant husband, is found dead, after failing to deliver a child. However, the cause of death has never been accepted nor proven, by the di’Medici family or anyone else.
Lucrezia is the young wife of Alfonso II. Bound unto him by the Church, by her father. She is a girl who took her dead sister’s place in marriage and against her wishes. She is the link between the House of Tuscany and the House of Ferrara, with one major expectation – she must produce an heir to cement the dynasty of two of the strongest households in Italy. This is the price to be paid for the freedom of the delizia.
Review and Comments
I loved, loved, loved this book.
The characteristics of the period and landscape with its churches and palazzos, and the royal courts was captured perfectly. At every juncture we were presented with such beautiful imagery of nature, the gardens, and the buildings. Even the subjugation of women and court loyalties all played their part in creating a wonderful historical context to a heart wrenching story.
This book had real substance not just finery and the story itself was so meticulously constructed that you felt a haunting sense of doom and atmosphere that carried throughout the book – because of the inevitable, which we know about from the first page. Even Lucrezia, young but wise, knew when her husband lured her to the country villa that she would not return. Yet we felt helpless as readers, only suffocated by the detestable knowledge that the wealthy with all their splendour, were untouchable, and she would not survive her teenage years.
Some parts felt a little overwritten, but only a small niggle in an otherwise wonderfully written story that gets inside your head and plays with your emotions as you are tormented with the life and loss of one of Italy’s young duchesses.
Tragic, heart wrenching and a superb adaptation where some of the notes may ring true !!!
The canvas the author paints in this ‘Marriage Portrait’ is Lucrezia’s story. A powerful and evocative reimagining / retelling of the true story of 16-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici, whose untimely and suspicious death was believed by many to be the work of her husband.
Skilfully written with sharp contrasts between the beautiful imagery created and the sad story of Lucz’s short life. I knew I had to be prepared for a sobering read because this brilliantly crafted story was drawn on real historical events. However, what made this special, apart from its authenticity, was the writing style that leaves you spellbound and sorrowful but also emotionally engaged. Feelings and sentiment I have come to expect with books written by the talented author of Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell.
Raw, evocative, compelling, and immersive.
The Plot
Two powerful families unite through marriage (the House of Tuscany and the House of Ferrara) but the ending is anything but happy, as one powerless girl, isolated from her family and in the clutches of her dominant husband, is found dead, after failing to deliver a child. However, the cause of death has never been accepted nor proven, by the di’Medici family or anyone else.
Lucrezia is the young wife of Alfonso II. Bound unto him by the Church, by her father. She is a girl who took her dead sister’s place in marriage and against her wishes. She is the link between the House of Tuscany and the House of Ferrara, with one major expectation – she must produce an heir to cement the dynasty of two of the strongest households in Italy. This is the price to be paid for the freedom of the delizia.
Review and Comments
I loved, loved, loved this book.
The characteristics of the period and landscape with its churches and palazzos, and the royal courts was captured perfectly. At every juncture we were presented with such beautiful imagery of nature, the gardens, and the buildings. Even the subjugation of women and court loyalties all played their part in creating a wonderful historical context to a heart wrenching story.
This book had real substance not just finery and the story itself was so meticulously constructed that you felt a haunting sense of doom and atmosphere that carried throughout the book – because of the inevitable, which we know about from the first page. Even Lucrezia, young but wise, knew when her husband lured her to the country villa that she would not return. Yet we felt helpless as readers, only suffocated by the detestable knowledge that the wealthy with all their splendour, were untouchable, and she would not survive her teenage years.
Some parts felt a little overwritten, but only a small niggle in an otherwise wonderfully written story that gets inside your head and plays with your emotions as you are tormented with the life and loss of one of Italy’s young duchesses.
Tragic, heart wrenching and a superb adaptation where some of the notes may ring true !!!
January 31, 2024
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive.
- 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning
In school, we studied Browning's 'My Last Duchess'-- a poem about a Duke presenting a portrait of his late wife who, it soon emerges, he himself had killed. The poem always gave me a chill, especially the way in which the Duke casually gloated over his hand in her death. I never knew the poem was based on the true story of Alfonso II, Duke of Ferarra, and his young bride Lucrezia de' Medici.
Here, Maggie O'Farrell weaves a beautifully-written and compelling version of these historical events. A lot has been fictionalized, both because very little is known about Lucrezia herself and because her death is still an unsolved mystery. Tuberculosis or poison? We will likely never know.
Still, the author brings in a lot of historical truth. Lucrezia de' Medici was indeed married at thirteen and, at fifteen, sent away from her family to an unfamiliar land and a much older husband. Alfonso was desperate to produce an heir and was believed to be sterile. After his young wife failed to become pregnant, her health quickly deteriorated and she was dead at sixteen. Rumours circulated that she had been poisoned.
O'Farrell fills in the blanks of the historical record with drama and tension. Lucrezia is a vivid, fascinating character, a fifth, oft-forgotten child who kept to herself, passionate about art and animals. It is easy to place yourself in her shoes and imagine being a thirteen year old child married away to a stranger, completely at his mercy. This was the reality for so many girls at this time, and it must have been truly terrifying and distressing.
It is a curious thing that knowing the outcome of this historical story did not dampen the tension but, instead, seemed to increase it. I felt like I didn't want to look as the book raced toward what I knew would happen, but I also could not draw my eyes away from it. The ending was an interesting-- though, in some ways, horrible --spin on the story. I'll be reading more from this author.
September 6, 2022
This doesn’t compare to Hamnet and, for various reasons, took forever to read. While the writing is quite good there is simply too much of it.
September 11, 2022
I read my first Maggie O’Farrell novel in 2014 and since then I’ve read every one she has written as well as her memoir. I can’t resist her beautiful and alluring opening sentences which I found here and as I remember also in The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and The Hand That First Held Mine. At first, I didn’t feel the emotional impact as I did with Hamnet, but then before I knew it, Maggie O’Farrell brings the character, Lucrezia de Medici to life and right to the heart. No wonder why she’s one of my very favorite writers!
The story behind this novel is fascinating. I vaguely remember the Browning poem “My Last Duchess” from a freshman literature class in college so long ago. Reading this novel made me revisit it . It’s chilling. In her note , O’Farrell says “ Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, is widely considered to have been the inspiration for Robert Browning’s poem ‘My Last Duchess’; Lucretia di Cosimo de’ Medici d’Este, Duchess of Ferrara, is the inspiration for this novel.”
The way O’Farrell paints the time and place, the role of women, the urgency for an heir in the consideration of power and wealth is magnificent. Not much is known about Lucrezia’s life, but O’Farrell masterfully reimagines it . The writing is so perfectly descriptive to pull you into the time, the place, the particular scene and into the head and heart of a fifteen year old girl in Renaissance Italy. Beautifully written and suspenseful with an ending that I was not expecting.
The story behind this novel is fascinating. I vaguely remember the Browning poem “My Last Duchess” from a freshman literature class in college so long ago. Reading this novel made me revisit it . It’s chilling. In her note , O’Farrell says “ Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, is widely considered to have been the inspiration for Robert Browning’s poem ‘My Last Duchess’; Lucretia di Cosimo de’ Medici d’Este, Duchess of Ferrara, is the inspiration for this novel.”
The way O’Farrell paints the time and place, the role of women, the urgency for an heir in the consideration of power and wealth is magnificent. Not much is known about Lucrezia’s life, but O’Farrell masterfully reimagines it . The writing is so perfectly descriptive to pull you into the time, the place, the particular scene and into the head and heart of a fifteen year old girl in Renaissance Italy. Beautifully written and suspenseful with an ending that I was not expecting.
September 14, 2022
This was actually a really good story, with especially the last hundred pages being filled with intrigue and suspense. However there is just SO so much superfluous description; it’s like when in school you had to bulk up the word count in an essay so you just threw in a bunch of adjectives. I became quite adept at scanning through description to reach plot points, however, that’s not the way I like to read a book. And don’t get me wrong; I love a bit of scene setting, I love to know in detail what everyone is wearing and thinking and what the room they’re in looks like etc. but this description was so uninteresting and flabby, in a book that could have been mega given it’s plot. Maggy you have failed the assignment
September 27, 2022
My heart is singing and racing as O’Farrell hums, stuns and spins a tale of an arranged marriage of a 15 year old girl, Lucrezia, to Alfonso, the Duke, 27 years of age.
This girl with insight beyond her years. The premonition she will die at the hands of her husband.
O’Farrell weaves a story of such vivid colours. The details in everyday moments, in paintings, in her portrait. The transformation of child to adult with the intuition of wisdom. A character study so intimate I felt like I was wearing her skin. The race for a heir to be produced to continue the family hierarchy. And the ridiculous archaic traditions that women were just to be gazed upon and not have a meaningful thought. Oh the travesty!
This is intense.The essence of her captured. The reality that her husband is capable of unspeakable evils. The isolation and loneliness that blankets her for the brief year with him.
A gem of a story. I have been swept away and will be thinking about this one for days to come.
The ending…brilliant!
****IF YOU HAVE NOT READ HAMNET, DO IT! It's an absolute awesome one as well for lovers of HF***
5⭐️
This girl with insight beyond her years. The premonition she will die at the hands of her husband.
O’Farrell weaves a story of such vivid colours. The details in everyday moments, in paintings, in her portrait. The transformation of child to adult with the intuition of wisdom. A character study so intimate I felt like I was wearing her skin. The race for a heir to be produced to continue the family hierarchy. And the ridiculous archaic traditions that women were just to be gazed upon and not have a meaningful thought. Oh the travesty!
This is intense.The essence of her captured. The reality that her husband is capable of unspeakable evils. The isolation and loneliness that blankets her for the brief year with him.
A gem of a story. I have been swept away and will be thinking about this one for days to come.
The ending…brilliant!
****IF YOU HAVE NOT READ HAMNET, DO IT! It's an absolute awesome one as well for lovers of HF***
5⭐️
May 16, 2023
One of my favorites of 2022
Maggie O’Farrell has once again written a book that takes you directly to a different time and place. A time when women, even royalty, were just pawns in a game, meant to provide heirs. And woe to the woman who can’t meet that crucial requirement.
The setting is Italy in the 1560s. Lucrezia is only 12 when her parents mark her as the intended spouse of the Duke of Ferrara, after her older sister, his fiancé, dies. Her marriage is delayed a few years, but she’s still only 15 when the marriage takes place. She’s hoping for a marriage like her parents, one of love and respect. But her husband expects total obedience and has no desire to share anything with her. She is there for one purpose only. Modern day women will gasp at the various “prescriptions” to help a woman conceive. And, of course, no one ever suspects that it might be the husband’s fault.
The story is told from two aspects, going forward but also at the one year point in her marriage. O’Farrell created a great sense of tension and suspense. We know the marriage isn’t going well (quite the opposite as she fears he intends to kill her) but what exactly has brought them to that point? The book is told solely from Lucrezia’s POV, but O’Farrell still manages to instill a real sense of doubt. Is she being over imaginative or is she truly in danger? My mind was bouncing with ideas of where O’Farrell might be planning to take the reader. I was finding multiple reasons a day to listen to this book.
I listened to this and Genevieve Gaunt did a fabulous job as the narrator.
Update - I just read this a second time for my book club. Reading it allowed for a better appreciation of O’Farrell’s way with words. I can’t wait to discuss this and recommend it for book clubs looking for a meaty historical fiction.
Maggie O’Farrell has once again written a book that takes you directly to a different time and place. A time when women, even royalty, were just pawns in a game, meant to provide heirs. And woe to the woman who can’t meet that crucial requirement.
The setting is Italy in the 1560s. Lucrezia is only 12 when her parents mark her as the intended spouse of the Duke of Ferrara, after her older sister, his fiancé, dies. Her marriage is delayed a few years, but she’s still only 15 when the marriage takes place. She’s hoping for a marriage like her parents, one of love and respect. But her husband expects total obedience and has no desire to share anything with her. She is there for one purpose only. Modern day women will gasp at the various “prescriptions” to help a woman conceive. And, of course, no one ever suspects that it might be the husband’s fault.
The story is told from two aspects, going forward but also at the one year point in her marriage. O’Farrell created a great sense of tension and suspense. We know the marriage isn’t going well (quite the opposite as she fears he intends to kill her) but what exactly has brought them to that point? The book is told solely from Lucrezia’s POV, but O’Farrell still manages to instill a real sense of doubt. Is she being over imaginative or is she truly in danger? My mind was bouncing with ideas of where O’Farrell might be planning to take the reader. I was finding multiple reasons a day to listen to this book.
I listened to this and Genevieve Gaunt did a fabulous job as the narrator.
Update - I just read this a second time for my book club. Reading it allowed for a better appreciation of O’Farrell’s way with words. I can’t wait to discuss this and recommend it for book clubs looking for a meaty historical fiction.
October 12, 2022
"If she is to survive this marriage, or perhaps even to thrive within it, she must preserve this part of herself and keep it away from him, separate, sacred."
If you've ever strolled through an Art museum and entered a room filled with ornately framed portraits dating back from the Renaissance, your curiosity may be piqued by all those stern faces. The women, draped in velvet and anchored down with jewels, have either a look of indifference or a look of sadness about them. If only their stories were revealed in truth......
Maggie O'Farrell is the standard for all characterizations portrayed in novels. Farrell has an uncanny mastering of what ticks away in the shadows behind those eyes. She puts her ear down close to the soul and listens hard. Farrell breathes life into them and makes them real for the rest of us.
Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici d'Este, Duchess of Ferrara, was born in 1545 in Florence. She was only a child when she met Alfonso II. Lord, help us from the wretched hands of fate, indeed. Her older sister, Maria, was betrothed to Alfonso, but she died of a raging fever the night before her wedding. Then in steps Alfonso requesting the hand of Lucrezia to become the next in line. Lucrezia was a mere thirteen years old at the time. Prudence stipulated that they wait until her fifteenth year. And Lucrezia was forced to wear the ill-fated wedding gown of her sister Maria.
Maggie O'Farrell sits us along the walls of these castles observing both the de Medici family and those residing within the dwellings of Alfonso. We will meet two of his sisters. And all along we will follow the days of Lucrezia as she tries to find her way into this man's heart and into his approval. We observe her drive and her resilience but, realistically, still harbored within the delicate mind and body of one so very young and inexperienced. And we cringe when no male heir is yet to be produced. The remaining sand in the hour glass does not bode well.
The Marriage Portrait is, solidly, a 5 Star bonanza. We see, feel, and hear in surround sound. I especially liked O'Farrell's Author's Note at the end in which she clarifies situations in the life of Lucrezia and the circumstances leading up to her demise and those within her inner circle. It's still a shocking display of human nature and the constant quest for power and wealth. That seems to have survived throughout the Ages, hasn't it?
Don't miss this one.
If you've ever strolled through an Art museum and entered a room filled with ornately framed portraits dating back from the Renaissance, your curiosity may be piqued by all those stern faces. The women, draped in velvet and anchored down with jewels, have either a look of indifference or a look of sadness about them. If only their stories were revealed in truth......
Maggie O'Farrell is the standard for all characterizations portrayed in novels. Farrell has an uncanny mastering of what ticks away in the shadows behind those eyes. She puts her ear down close to the soul and listens hard. Farrell breathes life into them and makes them real for the rest of us.
Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici d'Este, Duchess of Ferrara, was born in 1545 in Florence. She was only a child when she met Alfonso II. Lord, help us from the wretched hands of fate, indeed. Her older sister, Maria, was betrothed to Alfonso, but she died of a raging fever the night before her wedding. Then in steps Alfonso requesting the hand of Lucrezia to become the next in line. Lucrezia was a mere thirteen years old at the time. Prudence stipulated that they wait until her fifteenth year. And Lucrezia was forced to wear the ill-fated wedding gown of her sister Maria.
Maggie O'Farrell sits us along the walls of these castles observing both the de Medici family and those residing within the dwellings of Alfonso. We will meet two of his sisters. And all along we will follow the days of Lucrezia as she tries to find her way into this man's heart and into his approval. We observe her drive and her resilience but, realistically, still harbored within the delicate mind and body of one so very young and inexperienced. And we cringe when no male heir is yet to be produced. The remaining sand in the hour glass does not bode well.
The Marriage Portrait is, solidly, a 5 Star bonanza. We see, feel, and hear in surround sound. I especially liked O'Farrell's Author's Note at the end in which she clarifies situations in the life of Lucrezia and the circumstances leading up to her demise and those within her inner circle. It's still a shocking display of human nature and the constant quest for power and wealth. That seems to have survived throughout the Ages, hasn't it?
Don't miss this one.
November 14, 2022
**Time for another unfavorable review of a popular book**
Though I love beautiful prose, I find that when a book is overwritten, I am pulled out of the story. Instead of being absorbed in the pages or feeling invested in the protagonist's troubles, I am constantly kept on the surface because of the constant reminder that... well, I am reading. I am reading words that the author thought sounded pretty together, and that's why there are so many of them on the page, because the author could not quite stop themselves. When it comes to writing a plot- or character driven- narrative, sometimes less is more.
Take, for instance, this description of a dress:
The gown rustles and slides around her, speaking a glossolalia all of its own, the silk moving against the rougher nap of the underskirts, the bone supports of the bodice straining and squealing against their coverings, the cuffs scuffing and chafing the skin of her wrists, the stiffened collar hooking and nibbling at her nape, the hip supports creaking like the rigging of a ship. It is a symphony, an orchestra of fabrics
and imagine 340 pages of this flowery over-description. There's a section where Lucrezia is described opening a package using two compasses, and it goes on and on. Seriously.
Sometimes, the descriptions are awkward:
"the horses pass through the narrow gates like a knife through bread"
The plot is basic and flows like a tide of molasses - sickly sweet and tedious. The characters are cardboard, cliche - down to the outwardly strict nurse who secretly harbors a heart of gold. Lucrezia, of course, has no faults. There is a particularly cringy scene straight out of a Disney movie in which Lucrezia nurses back to health a handsome young man, who of course becomes the love interest (*barf*).
I particularly had a bone to pick with the characterization of Lucrezia, who is based on a historical figure. Not much is known about the circumstances of her life except for the fact that she married young to a man ten years her senior, and died soon after (later rumored to be poisoned). I understand creative, poetic liberty in writing a character, but I noticed a trend in historical fiction that female protagonists must tick off certain traits:
-She must be different from those around her/does not fit in (Check: Lucrezia is sensitive, intuitive, intelligent, talented, artistic... unlike her snobby, superficial sisters)
-Despite these traits, her family does not love/accept her (Check: Lucrezia's mother is cold toward her, her siblings are half-written but mean)
-She is attuned to the natural world (Check: Lucrezia's fascination and encounter with the tigress, Lucrezia "falling in love" with the painting of the marten)
-She is delicate but beautiful in an understated way (Check: Lucrezia is thin, small for her age, the author goes on and on about her hair; even the segments about Lucrezia being sick/about to puke are detailed in a delicate, flowery way)
-She must be quiet but headstrong (Check: "it is not.... in my nature to acquiesce, to submit")
Also, why have Lucrezia state this so self-assuredly and then act mousy and weak anyway? For a *strong, smart, female character* she has a lot of lapses in judgment.
All of this is to say that for me, Lucrezia does not stand out from any other historical fiction protagonist I have encountered (ex. Circe, who is also "not like other girls"). She has been pigeonholed into a role, a neat box, as if to pander to the expectations of the genre. Why can't the main character throw tantrums, have sloppy habits, be acne-riddled, frizzy-haired, enjoy gossiping, hoard superficial trinkets, be human? I think this does a disservice to the real figure of Lucrezia, who is plopped into the cardboard cutout of "list of qualities the main character must have to be better than everyone else around her without explicitly saying so." The author's modern mentality is superimposed on the 1500s figure, which made Lucrezia an even harder sell for me. She pushes for freedom and independence during a time when women - especially the nobility - were taught to be subservient. Marriage and childbearing were their lot from birth, so I didn't buy that Lucrezia was shocked and horrified by her betrothal to an older man. Simply put, I did not care about Lucrezia because I could not overlook the author's choices - both writing style and characterization.
I was also disappointed because the Italian Renaissance is such a storied, animated place in time, but this book failed to transport me there. Instead, I kept checking the progress of my ebook, impatiently waiting for something to happen that would change my mind. Sadly, nothing did.
Though I love beautiful prose, I find that when a book is overwritten, I am pulled out of the story. Instead of being absorbed in the pages or feeling invested in the protagonist's troubles, I am constantly kept on the surface because of the constant reminder that... well, I am reading. I am reading words that the author thought sounded pretty together, and that's why there are so many of them on the page, because the author could not quite stop themselves. When it comes to writing a plot- or character driven- narrative, sometimes less is more.
Take, for instance, this description of a dress:
The gown rustles and slides around her, speaking a glossolalia all of its own, the silk moving against the rougher nap of the underskirts, the bone supports of the bodice straining and squealing against their coverings, the cuffs scuffing and chafing the skin of her wrists, the stiffened collar hooking and nibbling at her nape, the hip supports creaking like the rigging of a ship. It is a symphony, an orchestra of fabrics
and imagine 340 pages of this flowery over-description. There's a section where Lucrezia is described opening a package using two compasses, and it goes on and on. Seriously.
Sometimes, the descriptions are awkward:
"the horses pass through the narrow gates like a knife through bread"
The plot is basic and flows like a tide of molasses - sickly sweet and tedious. The characters are cardboard, cliche - down to the outwardly strict nurse who secretly harbors a heart of gold. Lucrezia, of course, has no faults. There is a particularly cringy scene straight out of a Disney movie in which Lucrezia nurses back to health a handsome young man, who of course becomes the love interest (*barf*).
I particularly had a bone to pick with the characterization of Lucrezia, who is based on a historical figure. Not much is known about the circumstances of her life except for the fact that she married young to a man ten years her senior, and died soon after (later rumored to be poisoned). I understand creative, poetic liberty in writing a character, but I noticed a trend in historical fiction that female protagonists must tick off certain traits:
-She must be different from those around her/does not fit in (Check: Lucrezia is sensitive, intuitive, intelligent, talented, artistic... unlike her snobby, superficial sisters)
-Despite these traits, her family does not love/accept her (Check: Lucrezia's mother is cold toward her, her siblings are half-written but mean)
-She is attuned to the natural world (Check: Lucrezia's fascination and encounter with the tigress, Lucrezia "falling in love" with the painting of the marten)
-She is delicate but beautiful in an understated way (Check: Lucrezia is thin, small for her age, the author goes on and on about her hair; even the segments about Lucrezia being sick/about to puke are detailed in a delicate, flowery way)
-She must be quiet but headstrong (Check: "it is not.... in my nature to acquiesce, to submit")
Also, why have Lucrezia state this so self-assuredly and then act mousy and weak anyway? For a *strong, smart, female character* she has a lot of lapses in judgment.
All of this is to say that for me, Lucrezia does not stand out from any other historical fiction protagonist I have encountered (ex. Circe, who is also "not like other girls"). She has been pigeonholed into a role, a neat box, as if to pander to the expectations of the genre. Why can't the main character throw tantrums, have sloppy habits, be acne-riddled, frizzy-haired, enjoy gossiping, hoard superficial trinkets, be human? I think this does a disservice to the real figure of Lucrezia, who is plopped into the cardboard cutout of "list of qualities the main character must have to be better than everyone else around her without explicitly saying so." The author's modern mentality is superimposed on the 1500s figure, which made Lucrezia an even harder sell for me. She pushes for freedom and independence during a time when women - especially the nobility - were taught to be subservient. Marriage and childbearing were their lot from birth, so I didn't buy that Lucrezia was shocked and horrified by her betrothal to an older man. Simply put, I did not care about Lucrezia because I could not overlook the author's choices - both writing style and characterization.
I was also disappointed because the Italian Renaissance is such a storied, animated place in time, but this book failed to transport me there. Instead, I kept checking the progress of my ebook, impatiently waiting for something to happen that would change my mind. Sadly, nothing did.
September 10, 2022
This opening ‘instant classic’ paragraph paints a picture that stays with the reader — not only —from start to finish— but long after…..due to its compelling surprise ending.
“In 1560, fifteen-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’ Medici left Florence to begin her married life with Alfonso II d’Este Duke of Ferrara”.
“Less then a year later, she would be dead”.
“The official cause of death was given as ‘putrid fever’, but it was rummoured that she had been murdered by her husband”.
This novel continues to linger in my thoughts. There are gorgeous descriptive sections where O’Farrell dives right into the soul of the characters weaving a visual tale—
but at other times this novel moved a tad too slow.
Having just finished Stephen King’s new novel, “Fairy Tale”….
I found myself comparing writing styles - while also noticing a few — surprisingly magical similarities.
At times I was quite enchanted with this novel: the fictionalization —
But I also felt it was more superficial than ‘deep’ —(at times the impressive artistic usage of words overshadowed emotional sincerity.
But…this was still an overall entertaining novel.
The tale about the tiger was one of my favorite parts — symbolically powerful!
We were to examine the distinction between life itself and how he could have died.
“Lucrezia wants to look at her husband—Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara—and say: “I know what you are up to”.
“Would he be surprised, wrong-footed? Does he think of her as his innocent, unworldly wife, barely out of the nursery? She sees it all. She sees he has laid his scheme so carefully, so assiduously, ensuring that her retinue was left behind in Ferrara, that she is alone, that there are no people from the ‘castello’ here, just him and her, two guards stationed outside, and a handful of country servants to wait on them”.
“How will he do it? Part of her would like to ask him this. The knife in a dark corridor? His hands about her throat? A tumble from a horse made to look like an accident? she has no doubt that all of these would fall within his repertoire. It had better been done well, would be her advice to him, because her father is not someone who will take a lenient view at his daughter’s murder”.
“The Marriage Portrait” succeeded in escalating suspense in the face of being presented the historical facts right off the bat.
Like a fairy tale ….
“Once Upon a time…..the beginning set a strong stage for everything that would happen next.
We journey through good and evil with a virtuous protagonist and malevolent antagonist….
with surprising developments and twists —
making “The Marriage Portrait” a literary historical aristocratic renaissance thriller.
I wasn’t always completely smitten but I certainly admire Maggie’s creative thought process and poetic prose.
“In 1560, fifteen-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’ Medici left Florence to begin her married life with Alfonso II d’Este Duke of Ferrara”.
“Less then a year later, she would be dead”.
“The official cause of death was given as ‘putrid fever’, but it was rummoured that she had been murdered by her husband”.
This novel continues to linger in my thoughts. There are gorgeous descriptive sections where O’Farrell dives right into the soul of the characters weaving a visual tale—
but at other times this novel moved a tad too slow.
Having just finished Stephen King’s new novel, “Fairy Tale”….
I found myself comparing writing styles - while also noticing a few — surprisingly magical similarities.
At times I was quite enchanted with this novel: the fictionalization —
But I also felt it was more superficial than ‘deep’ —(at times the impressive artistic usage of words overshadowed emotional sincerity.
But…this was still an overall entertaining novel.
The tale about the tiger was one of my favorite parts — symbolically powerful!
We were to examine the distinction between life itself and how he could have died.
“Lucrezia wants to look at her husband—Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara—and say: “I know what you are up to”.
“Would he be surprised, wrong-footed? Does he think of her as his innocent, unworldly wife, barely out of the nursery? She sees it all. She sees he has laid his scheme so carefully, so assiduously, ensuring that her retinue was left behind in Ferrara, that she is alone, that there are no people from the ‘castello’ here, just him and her, two guards stationed outside, and a handful of country servants to wait on them”.
“How will he do it? Part of her would like to ask him this. The knife in a dark corridor? His hands about her throat? A tumble from a horse made to look like an accident? she has no doubt that all of these would fall within his repertoire. It had better been done well, would be her advice to him, because her father is not someone who will take a lenient view at his daughter’s murder”.
“The Marriage Portrait” succeeded in escalating suspense in the face of being presented the historical facts right off the bat.
Like a fairy tale ….
“Once Upon a time…..the beginning set a strong stage for everything that would happen next.
We journey through good and evil with a virtuous protagonist and malevolent antagonist….
with surprising developments and twists —
making “The Marriage Portrait” a literary historical aristocratic renaissance thriller.
I wasn’t always completely smitten but I certainly admire Maggie’s creative thought process and poetic prose.
March 7, 2023
2.5
You have two choices. To read the Wikipedia page of Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara, or read this over described, over elaborated, over embellished book of 450 pages about an uninteresting character and the rumor about the manner of her death, only to reach the same conclusion.
You have two choices. To read the Wikipedia page of Lucrezia de' Medici, Duchess of Ferrara, or read this over described, over elaborated, over embellished book of 450 pages about an uninteresting character and the rumor about the manner of her death, only to reach the same conclusion.
December 21, 2022
i absolutely adored MOs previous book about shakespeare but, after reading this, i realised it was the content i enjoyed, not so much MOs storytelling.
because this reads more like a water-downed textbook, rather than historical fiction. which, i guess if you are interested in the subject, that would be ideal. obviously it worked for me in her previous book. but i was hoping for this to read more like a story inspired by history rather than something that feels like a potential biography… :/
still, a really fascinating mystery in history. i just wanted more of a story.
↠ 3 stars
because this reads more like a water-downed textbook, rather than historical fiction. which, i guess if you are interested in the subject, that would be ideal. obviously it worked for me in her previous book. but i was hoping for this to read more like a story inspired by history rather than something that feels like a potential biography… :/
still, a really fascinating mystery in history. i just wanted more of a story.
↠ 3 stars
August 30, 2022
“The Marriage Portrait” drops us into the panicked mind of a teenage girl who knows her husband is plotting to kill her. In a few months, she’ll be dead.
That certainty must have been alarming for the girl, but it’s an ongoing challenge for the author. Where, after all, is the suspense in a doomed life?
Fortunately, this author is Maggie O’Farrell, one of the most exciting novelists alive. Two years ago, she published “Hamnet,” about William Shakespeare’s only son. The novel, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, created a devastating charge of tension and sorrow, despite the fact that almost nothing is known about little Hamnet except his death in 1596.
“The Marriage Portrait” exhumes a similarly fated youngster: Lucrezia, the daughter of Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Like Hamnet, Lucrezia has fallen into the footnotes of history. But she survives — “looking as if she were alive” — in Robert Browning’s grimly ironic poem, “My Last Duchess.”
The facts of this case are thin and sad. Lucrezia was born into Italy’s legendary family in 1545. One of her sisters was supposed to marry Alfonso II d’Este, the future Duke of Ferrara, but she died before the ceremony. Like some Renaissance edition of “The Bachelor,” Lucrezia took her place. At the age of 16, before celebrating her first wedding anniversary, she was buried in. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
That certainty must have been alarming for the girl, but it’s an ongoing challenge for the author. Where, after all, is the suspense in a doomed life?
Fortunately, this author is Maggie O’Farrell, one of the most exciting novelists alive. Two years ago, she published “Hamnet,” about William Shakespeare’s only son. The novel, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, created a devastating charge of tension and sorrow, despite the fact that almost nothing is known about little Hamnet except his death in 1596.
“The Marriage Portrait” exhumes a similarly fated youngster: Lucrezia, the daughter of Cosimo I de’ Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Like Hamnet, Lucrezia has fallen into the footnotes of history. But she survives — “looking as if she were alive” — in Robert Browning’s grimly ironic poem, “My Last Duchess.”
The facts of this case are thin and sad. Lucrezia was born into Italy’s legendary family in 1545. One of her sisters was supposed to marry Alfonso II d’Este, the future Duke of Ferrara, but she died before the ceremony. Like some Renaissance edition of “The Bachelor,” Lucrezia took her place. At the age of 16, before celebrating her first wedding anniversary, she was buried in. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
June 13, 2023
*Shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction*
“Across the room, propped against the wall, is herself – another self, a former self. A self who, when she is dead and buried in her tomb, will endure, will outlive her, who will always be smiling from the wall, one hand poised to begin a painting.”
Set in mid-sixteenth-century Italy, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O' Farrell is a reimagining of the life of Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici, and her short marriage to Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. In reality, less than a year after her marriage Lucrezia passed on having succumbed to putrid fever, though it was rumored that her husband was responsible for her death.
The narrative follows Lucrezia the youngest daughter of Cosimo I de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany from her early years with her family, her love for art, and her betrothal to Alfonso II d’Este almost twelve years her senior, after the death of her older sister who was originally to be his bride – a political alliance between two powerful families. At the age of fifteen, she leaves her home to begin a new life as the Duchess of Ferrara.
“If she is to survive this marriage, or perhaps even to thrive within it she must preserve this part of herself and keep it away from him, separate, sacred. She will surround it with a thorn-thicket or a high fence, like a castle in a folktale; she will station bare-toothed, long-clawed beasts at its doors. He will never know it, never see it, never reach it. He shall not penetrate it.”
In a new land, surrounded by strangers, Lucrezia’s new life comes with its set of challenges. Her husband, initially attentive begins to show his true colors soon after they reach Ferrara. He expects her to be an obedient wife who will never challenge or question his decisions and turn a blind eye to the cruelty he displays in the course of his rule. The pressure on her to give birth to an heir and be the perfect wife and her dynamics with her husband’s sisters and his associates overwhelm Lucrezia who has no close friends or family nearby barring her maid Emilia, who is the only one she can trust. Alfonso’s obsessive need to oversee the minutest detail in the portrait of his new bride he commissions - the “marriage portrait”, is a testimonial to Alfonso’s controlling and cruel nature and the restrictive suffocating environment in which Lucrezia finds herself trapped. The narrative follows Lucrezia as she struggles to adjust to her new position despite the rumors about her husband and his family and her growing fears for her own safety.
“In the painting is a woman who looks like her, or a version of her, or an ideal – she cannot tell which. This is her, yet not her; it is so disturbingly like her, while being completely unlike her. It is Lucrezia, but it is also someone else. This girl is a duchess it is clear to see from the jewels that adorn her ears and neck, wrists and head, from the gold-and-pearl cintura around her waist, from the ornaments on her bodice, from the pleating and embroidery of her gown. Here before you, the portrait shouts, is no commoner, but someone high-born and exalted. She loves it, she loathes it; she is dumbstruck with admiration; she is shocked by its acuity. She wants the world to see it; she wishes to run and cover it again with the cloth at the artist’s feet.”
Beautiful prose with vivid descriptions of the settings and the era make for an engaging read. The author transports you to the palazzos and castellas of Renaissance Italy and even though we know how the story is going to end, I could not stop turning the pages. The characterizations are superb - each of the main and supporting characters is well-fleshed out and convincing (even the unlikable characters). Lucrezia’s loneliness, fear and suffocation are palpable. There were moments that were a tad melodramatic and few segments toward the end that felt rushed, but this does not detract from the overall reading experience. I found this to be an immersive read that I would not hesitate to recommend. Do read the Author’s Note where she discusses her inspiration for this novel, the historical context and how it differs from the fictionalized account of events. This was my first time reading this author and I can’t wait to explore more of her work.
“Across the room, propped against the wall, is herself – another self, a former self. A self who, when she is dead and buried in her tomb, will endure, will outlive her, who will always be smiling from the wall, one hand poised to begin a painting.”
Set in mid-sixteenth-century Italy, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O' Farrell is a reimagining of the life of Lucrezia di Cosimo de Medici, and her short marriage to Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. In reality, less than a year after her marriage Lucrezia passed on having succumbed to putrid fever, though it was rumored that her husband was responsible for her death.
The narrative follows Lucrezia the youngest daughter of Cosimo I de Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany from her early years with her family, her love for art, and her betrothal to Alfonso II d’Este almost twelve years her senior, after the death of her older sister who was originally to be his bride – a political alliance between two powerful families. At the age of fifteen, she leaves her home to begin a new life as the Duchess of Ferrara.
“If she is to survive this marriage, or perhaps even to thrive within it she must preserve this part of herself and keep it away from him, separate, sacred. She will surround it with a thorn-thicket or a high fence, like a castle in a folktale; she will station bare-toothed, long-clawed beasts at its doors. He will never know it, never see it, never reach it. He shall not penetrate it.”
In a new land, surrounded by strangers, Lucrezia’s new life comes with its set of challenges. Her husband, initially attentive begins to show his true colors soon after they reach Ferrara. He expects her to be an obedient wife who will never challenge or question his decisions and turn a blind eye to the cruelty he displays in the course of his rule. The pressure on her to give birth to an heir and be the perfect wife and her dynamics with her husband’s sisters and his associates overwhelm Lucrezia who has no close friends or family nearby barring her maid Emilia, who is the only one she can trust. Alfonso’s obsessive need to oversee the minutest detail in the portrait of his new bride he commissions - the “marriage portrait”, is a testimonial to Alfonso’s controlling and cruel nature and the restrictive suffocating environment in which Lucrezia finds herself trapped. The narrative follows Lucrezia as she struggles to adjust to her new position despite the rumors about her husband and his family and her growing fears for her own safety.
“In the painting is a woman who looks like her, or a version of her, or an ideal – she cannot tell which. This is her, yet not her; it is so disturbingly like her, while being completely unlike her. It is Lucrezia, but it is also someone else. This girl is a duchess it is clear to see from the jewels that adorn her ears and neck, wrists and head, from the gold-and-pearl cintura around her waist, from the ornaments on her bodice, from the pleating and embroidery of her gown. Here before you, the portrait shouts, is no commoner, but someone high-born and exalted. She loves it, she loathes it; she is dumbstruck with admiration; she is shocked by its acuity. She wants the world to see it; she wishes to run and cover it again with the cloth at the artist’s feet.”
Beautiful prose with vivid descriptions of the settings and the era make for an engaging read. The author transports you to the palazzos and castellas of Renaissance Italy and even though we know how the story is going to end, I could not stop turning the pages. The characterizations are superb - each of the main and supporting characters is well-fleshed out and convincing (even the unlikable characters). Lucrezia’s loneliness, fear and suffocation are palpable. There were moments that were a tad melodramatic and few segments toward the end that felt rushed, but this does not detract from the overall reading experience. I found this to be an immersive read that I would not hesitate to recommend. Do read the Author’s Note where she discusses her inspiration for this novel, the historical context and how it differs from the fictionalized account of events. This was my first time reading this author and I can’t wait to explore more of her work.
March 30, 2023
Well Maggie – you’ve done it again! This is a beauty.
I spent the entire time reading Maggie O’Farrell’s – The Marriage Portrait in a state of painful, exhausting (and yes, even sweaty) suspense. Two reasons for this – (1) The author’s writing and pacing is perfect and (2) My strong feelings and support for Lucrezia commenced as soon as I met her., and became stronger as the story progressed. I worried about her constantly.
The story is set in renaissance Italy (mid-1500s), we start in the royal palace of the Medici’s in the in Florence – Lucrezia is a daughter of Cosimo I de Medici (the Duke), and she is a bit of an odd child. She seems to live in a world of her own and sees the world differently to others and as such is ostracised somewhat from her siblings. She does however, have a wonderful relationship with one of the house servants, Sofia – an older woman who is harsh at times – but she seems to understand Lucrezia. There is a scene between Sofia and Lucrezia that hits the emotional jackpot with me - and it wasn't really overly sentimental - just cleverly written and conceived by the author.
Lucrezia’s oldest sister, Maria – is betrothed to the soon to be Duke of Ferrera, Alfonso. What a fine specimen of a man he is too – athletic, handsome, powerful with a massive personality. Alfonso (24 yrs old) marries Lucrezia (13 yrs old – yes 13!!!) and they go to live further north, across the Apennine mountains to Ferrara (not that far from Bologna). However, it may as well be in a different country as Lucrezia can’t visit her family easily – it’s one heck of a trek. No bullet trains back then unfortunately!
It’s evident – Lucrezia (or any young girl like her) has no control when it comes to matters of who to marry and where she will live. Marriages between royal families are for political expediency.
Lucrezia’s new ‘home’, in the grand Castillo of Duke Alfonso II, is much different from the Palazzo in Florence, forgetting the obvious – like she has no family or friends there – the court in Ferraro seems to be a more solemn place. Entertainers (like the Castrati) singing opera after dinner, compared to acrobats, and nanos back home in court in Florence. Also, the children in Florence were raised by a loving mother and father - Eleanor and Cosimo.
This story is really about the relationship between Lucrezia and Alfonso (he needs an heir), and the interplay between Lucrezia and his Alfonso's sisters and other members of his court – watch out for his best mate Leonello.
The ‘marriage portrait’ part of the story, is important as Alfonso demands a perfect portrait of his young bride – the unveiling of this painting, in the presence of the artists is one of many terrifyingly suspenseful scenes in this story.
I don’t think I have read such an emotionally suspenseful book like this, in a very long time. The author reveals slowly, the characters are beautifully developed – even the horrible ones, it’s atmospheric and dark.
This is a must read, particularly for those interested in historical fiction. This is as good as The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox/i>, another of Maggie’s gems.
Many thanks to my buddy reader Lisa – always fun and educational, as Lisa picks up on things I miss!!
Lisa's brilliant review is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
5 Stars
I spent the entire time reading Maggie O’Farrell’s – The Marriage Portrait in a state of painful, exhausting (and yes, even sweaty) suspense. Two reasons for this – (1) The author’s writing and pacing is perfect and (2) My strong feelings and support for Lucrezia commenced as soon as I met her., and became stronger as the story progressed. I worried about her constantly.
The story is set in renaissance Italy (mid-1500s), we start in the royal palace of the Medici’s in the in Florence – Lucrezia is a daughter of Cosimo I de Medici (the Duke), and she is a bit of an odd child. She seems to live in a world of her own and sees the world differently to others and as such is ostracised somewhat from her siblings. She does however, have a wonderful relationship with one of the house servants, Sofia – an older woman who is harsh at times – but she seems to understand Lucrezia. There is a scene between Sofia and Lucrezia that hits the emotional jackpot with me - and it wasn't really overly sentimental - just cleverly written and conceived by the author.
Lucrezia’s oldest sister, Maria – is betrothed to the soon to be Duke of Ferrera, Alfonso. What a fine specimen of a man he is too – athletic, handsome, powerful with a massive personality. Alfonso (24 yrs old) marries Lucrezia (13 yrs old – yes 13!!!) and they go to live further north, across the Apennine mountains to Ferrara (not that far from Bologna). However, it may as well be in a different country as Lucrezia can’t visit her family easily – it’s one heck of a trek. No bullet trains back then unfortunately!
It’s evident – Lucrezia (or any young girl like her) has no control when it comes to matters of who to marry and where she will live. Marriages between royal families are for political expediency.
Lucrezia’s new ‘home’, in the grand Castillo of Duke Alfonso II, is much different from the Palazzo in Florence, forgetting the obvious – like she has no family or friends there – the court in Ferraro seems to be a more solemn place. Entertainers (like the Castrati) singing opera after dinner, compared to acrobats, and nanos back home in court in Florence. Also, the children in Florence were raised by a loving mother and father - Eleanor and Cosimo.
This story is really about the relationship between Lucrezia and Alfonso (he needs an heir), and the interplay between Lucrezia and his Alfonso's sisters and other members of his court – watch out for his best mate Leonello.
The ‘marriage portrait’ part of the story, is important as Alfonso demands a perfect portrait of his young bride – the unveiling of this painting, in the presence of the artists is one of many terrifyingly suspenseful scenes in this story.
I don’t think I have read such an emotionally suspenseful book like this, in a very long time. The author reveals slowly, the characters are beautifully developed – even the horrible ones, it’s atmospheric and dark.
This is a must read, particularly for those interested in historical fiction. This is as good as The Disappearing Act of Esme Lennox/i>, another of Maggie’s gems.
Many thanks to my buddy reader Lisa – always fun and educational, as Lisa picks up on things I miss!!
Lisa's brilliant review is here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
5 Stars
October 23, 2022
I bought it, I read it, I loved it....... and was charmed by Maggie O' Farrell's descriptive and vivid portrait of a woman attempting to free herself from the role created for her in life.
I have loved some (not all) of Maggie O' Farrell's novels. Among my favourites were The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death and her last book Hamnet
The Marriage Portraitis a beautifully drawn historical fiction story where fact and fiction blends seamlessly together. I loved the sense of time and place and Florence of the 1550s.
Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, she has a free spirit to her, but when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will ensure the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.
I really enjoyed this novel, it engaged me from the very first page, I was rooting for Lucrezia and harsh times that she was born into, where men ruled the world and women had to accept the fate of arranged marriage and their lives to be dictated to them by men.
Lucrezia is a memorable character and I enjoyed reading about the Medici family. There is a wonderful sense of time and place in this novel and I just loved how the author reimagines Lucrezia's life to bring us this beautiful novel.
The perfect Autumn read to curl up with by the fire.
I have loved some (not all) of Maggie O' Farrell's novels. Among my favourites were The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death and her last book Hamnet
The Marriage Portraitis a beautifully drawn historical fiction story where fact and fiction blends seamlessly together. I loved the sense of time and place and Florence of the 1550s.
Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, she has a free spirit to her, but when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will ensure the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance.
I really enjoyed this novel, it engaged me from the very first page, I was rooting for Lucrezia and harsh times that she was born into, where men ruled the world and women had to accept the fate of arranged marriage and their lives to be dictated to them by men.
Lucrezia is a memorable character and I enjoyed reading about the Medici family. There is a wonderful sense of time and place in this novel and I just loved how the author reimagines Lucrezia's life to bring us this beautiful novel.
The perfect Autumn read to curl up with by the fire.
September 10, 2022
Maggie O'Farrell has done it again with her extraordinary novel The Marriage Portrait! As I started reading, I immediately felt that rare, electrified feeling I get when entering a great novel. Set in the mid 1500s, It tells the story of Lucrezia's short marriage to the Duke of Ferrara through her own eyes and perceptions.
As an artist, she experiences the world around her in a fresh and deeply felt way- all the smells, sensations, textures, colors, images of the landscape and people around her. I often don't have patience for descriptive writing but I savored every sentence of O'Farrell's lush prose. I loved seeing and feeling the world as Lucrezia did - and felt that I was experiencing her joys, disappointments and peril firsthand.
As an artist, she experiences the world around her in a fresh and deeply felt way- all the smells, sensations, textures, colors, images of the landscape and people around her. I often don't have patience for descriptive writing but I savored every sentence of O'Farrell's lush prose. I loved seeing and feeling the world as Lucrezia did - and felt that I was experiencing her joys, disappointments and peril firsthand.
October 16, 2023
justice for Emilia
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2024
I’m still slightly haunted by this book which is both alive and frightening at the same time.
Alive because O’Farrell is a master (mistress) of turning words into places complete with smells, sights, and sounds. Her lush descriptions of the 16th century carried me away, and occasionally made me forget its frightening theme.
From the beginning, the author tells you exactly where her book, inspired by the true story of the death of an Italian young bride, is going.
We get to know our young heroine, Lucrezia. Married for politics and power. And fertility. Frightening because both the reader and our central character realizes that death awaits as the pages turn toward the story’s inevitable ending.
Art, deception, girls as chattel, and unbridled male power emanate across the pages. You can feel the emotions as surely as you can see the characters.
Haunting and frightening. Speculative and potentially hopeful. But I admit to remaining just haunted— by all the possibilities.
(Reviewed 9/26/22)
PS- And now I want to go to North Carolina and see the Bronzino portrait that has served as such a powerful muse.
Alive because O’Farrell is a master (mistress) of turning words into places complete with smells, sights, and sounds. Her lush descriptions of the 16th century carried me away, and occasionally made me forget its frightening theme.
From the beginning, the author tells you exactly where her book, inspired by the true story of the death of an Italian young bride, is going.
We get to know our young heroine, Lucrezia. Married for politics and power. And fertility. Frightening because both the reader and our central character realizes that death awaits as the pages turn toward the story’s inevitable ending.
Art, deception, girls as chattel, and unbridled male power emanate across the pages. You can feel the emotions as surely as you can see the characters.
Haunting and frightening. Speculative and potentially hopeful. But I admit to remaining just haunted— by all the possibilities.
(Reviewed 9/26/22)
PS- And now I want to go to North Carolina and see the Bronzino portrait that has served as such a powerful muse.
October 24, 2022
The Marriage Portrait reimagines a fascinating story of Lucrezia de Medici. The story begins with Lucrezia fearing for her life just after a year of being married to Duke Alfonso. Why? That’s what drives the plot. It also weaves the backstory of Lucrezia.
The time period of the Renaissance and the Medici family are very fascinating to me and that’s what attracted me to this story. Lucrezia is a captivating character, who needs to grow up fast. She briefly enjoys the freedom granted to her by her husband, but things change quickly and she needs to adjust quickly as well in order to survive in a very challenging world filled with intrigue.
This is the second book that I tried by this author, and I’m not connecting with her style of writing, which is certainly praised. I prefer more of a straight forward presentation of events instead of lush imagination which is descriptive and doesn’t pull me into the story.
The time period of the Renaissance and the Medici family are very fascinating to me and that’s what attracted me to this story. Lucrezia is a captivating character, who needs to grow up fast. She briefly enjoys the freedom granted to her by her husband, but things change quickly and she needs to adjust quickly as well in order to survive in a very challenging world filled with intrigue.
This is the second book that I tried by this author, and I’m not connecting with her style of writing, which is certainly praised. I prefer more of a straight forward presentation of events instead of lush imagination which is descriptive and doesn’t pull me into the story.
February 15, 2025
I probably have an outlier opinion, but this historical fiction did not work for me. I do not intend to write many words about why I found this reading experience rather boring and pointless, but I will briefly address the two main problems I had with this novel. First, I did not like the writing. Maggie O'Farrell aimed to respect the period by conveying its ambience in her descriptions of the interiors of the castles and fortresses and their surroundings, the clothing of the people, and the menagerie. The author tries too hard to make her world look authentic and feel like a historical one, peppering every other page with excessive detail. For me, it felt overwritten. I can, however, see how this kind of descriptive language might appeal to readers. It is likely either a hit or miss situation.
The second issue I had with this novel is that it uses the names of real historical figures to create a fictitious plot.
Had it been a fictional story written about some fictional characters loosely based on real figures of the past and/or their portraits, I probably would have been more generous in my assessment. But it is a story set in the 16th century that follows the life of Lucrezia de Medici, the young daughter of the ruler of Florence, Cosimo I de Medici, and his wife Eleanor of Toledo.
A dynastic marriage was arranged between Lucrezia and Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara. Would their marriage bring happiness or tragedy? Lucrezia was about 13 years old when she was married, but she seems to have lived with her parents for some time before joining her husband.
Sadly, she died soon after, probably from illness. However, there was some gossip that she may have been poisoned, perhaps by her husband. No solid evidence about what happened to Lucrezia exists, but suspicious rumors of her death seem untrustworthy. It is well known that rumors and legends surrounded many prominent figures in the 16th century.
The author builds her version of the events on the legend around Lucrezia, taking many liberties and embellishing the storyline with some fairy elements. I am usually not persnickety and have no problem with authors taking liberties with their subject matter, adding modern updates, and stepping into the void left by scarce, insufficient, or contradictory historical sources, especially if their version rings true (at least in certain respects) or is convincing at its core. I even accept twisting some facts and getting some history wrong in historical fiction if it has been done for a purpose. But in this case, I was not convinced by how the author told the story of Lucrezia and her marriage. O'Farrell describes Lucrezia's feelings and makes her suspicious of her husband, who keeps his intentions closely guarded. Is it possible that he is planning to get rid of her?
Yes, aristocratic husbands in that era were too willing to blame their spouses for the absence of heirs rather than look within themselves. But Lucrezia was too young, and they had been married for too short a time for her husband to become brutal over what he may have seen as her failure to conceive. I wanted to like this novel more, but I could not. I wanted to root for Lucrezia when she was obliged to leave her native Florence to start her life in her husband's domain, but I did not.
That said, if I had enjoyed the writing style, I might have seen the novel in a more positive light.
And I liked overall how the author depicted her heroine as intelligent, gifted, striving for some autonomy, and the pawn of her family.
As for the ending, even though I saw it coming based on the hints given, it could still be considered an original way to wrap up a story, albeit a fictional one. Still, the ending feels questionable since it comes at the expense of another character.
Also, it could have been a more interesting read if there was more historical background.
This novel has prompted me to think about historical fiction as a genre.
Well-rounded and nuanced feminist retellings that draw on the historical record from the distant past are more than welcome. But, in my opinion, this should not be done at the expense of historical truth. Even more importantly, it should not result in our current ethical and social norms being applied to people in the 16th and 17th centuries. My knowledge of that period, as limited as it is, has taught me that people back then thought, believed, acted, and often felt very differently than most do today. To give just one example, status over personhood was the principle that guided most decisions about marriage in aristocratic and royal circles.
2.25 stars
The second issue I had with this novel is that it uses the names of real historical figures to create a fictitious plot.
Had it been a fictional story written about some fictional characters loosely based on real figures of the past and/or their portraits, I probably would have been more generous in my assessment. But it is a story set in the 16th century that follows the life of Lucrezia de Medici, the young daughter of the ruler of Florence, Cosimo I de Medici, and his wife Eleanor of Toledo.
A dynastic marriage was arranged between Lucrezia and Alfonso d'Este of Ferrara. Would their marriage bring happiness or tragedy? Lucrezia was about 13 years old when she was married, but she seems to have lived with her parents for some time before joining her husband.
Sadly, she died soon after, probably from illness. However, there was some gossip that she may have been poisoned, perhaps by her husband. No solid evidence about what happened to Lucrezia exists, but suspicious rumors of her death seem untrustworthy. It is well known that rumors and legends surrounded many prominent figures in the 16th century.
The author builds her version of the events on the legend around Lucrezia, taking many liberties and embellishing the storyline with some fairy elements. I am usually not persnickety and have no problem with authors taking liberties with their subject matter, adding modern updates, and stepping into the void left by scarce, insufficient, or contradictory historical sources, especially if their version rings true (at least in certain respects) or is convincing at its core. I even accept twisting some facts and getting some history wrong in historical fiction if it has been done for a purpose. But in this case, I was not convinced by how the author told the story of Lucrezia and her marriage. O'Farrell describes Lucrezia's feelings and makes her suspicious of her husband, who keeps his intentions closely guarded. Is it possible that he is planning to get rid of her?
Yes, aristocratic husbands in that era were too willing to blame their spouses for the absence of heirs rather than look within themselves. But Lucrezia was too young, and they had been married for too short a time for her husband to become brutal over what he may have seen as her failure to conceive. I wanted to like this novel more, but I could not. I wanted to root for Lucrezia when she was obliged to leave her native Florence to start her life in her husband's domain, but I did not.
That said, if I had enjoyed the writing style, I might have seen the novel in a more positive light.
And I liked overall how the author depicted her heroine as intelligent, gifted, striving for some autonomy, and the pawn of her family.
As for the ending, even though I saw it coming based on the hints given, it could still be considered an original way to wrap up a story, albeit a fictional one. Still, the ending feels questionable since it comes at the expense of another character.
Also, it could have been a more interesting read if there was more historical background.
This novel has prompted me to think about historical fiction as a genre.
Well-rounded and nuanced feminist retellings that draw on the historical record from the distant past are more than welcome. But, in my opinion, this should not be done at the expense of historical truth. Even more importantly, it should not result in our current ethical and social norms being applied to people in the 16th and 17th centuries. My knowledge of that period, as limited as it is, has taught me that people back then thought, believed, acted, and often felt very differently than most do today. To give just one example, status over personhood was the principle that guided most decisions about marriage in aristocratic and royal circles.
2.25 stars
October 16, 2022
Based on the real life story of Lucrezia de’Medici, married at 15 to the Duke of Ferrara, she had a suspicious death.... rumored to have been poisoned by her husband. This was in 1500’s Renaissance Italy.
I love this author.. this is the fourth novel that I’ve read of hers.
She writes beautifully… but this story was quite slow and overwritten, in my opinion.
Nevertheless, I will continue to look forward to whatever she writes.. and there are two more novels of hers that I want to get to.
I love this author.. this is the fourth novel that I’ve read of hers.
She writes beautifully… but this story was quite slow and overwritten, in my opinion.
Nevertheless, I will continue to look forward to whatever she writes.. and there are two more novels of hers that I want to get to.
September 24, 2022
Outstanding and riveting!
After reading Maggie O'Farrell's book Hamnet, I knew I was in for a treat by being able to listen to her The Marriage Portrait. In this story, she bring the heartbreaking story of Lucrezia de Medici. I is the time of the Renaissance and in Italy Lucretia, the daughter of the grand duke is only thirteen, but as tragedy has taken her older sister, the one to be married to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucretia finds herself being married to this thirty year old man.
Alphonso, her new husband, is at first quite solicitous, but Lucretia, is in a strange court, unaware of customs, and frightened of the intrigues and whispers, as everyone including Alphonso's sisters seem to be terrified of their brother.
Lucretia soon learns why as she witnesses Alphonso's change of moods and his cruelty as he wields absolute power. She also learns why she is there, that to be a bearer of Alphonso's children (especially males), and if she does not accomplish this task, her life is in the balance.
Told with such vivid details and so well written that I felt as if I was there, witnessing this young woman's loneliness and underlying fear.
For those of us who love well written and researched historical fiction, this is definitely one for you. I will definitely set Maggie O' Farrell as a must read for her marvelous portrayal of her characters and the times they lived in.
After reading Maggie O'Farrell's book Hamnet, I knew I was in for a treat by being able to listen to her The Marriage Portrait. In this story, she bring the heartbreaking story of Lucrezia de Medici. I is the time of the Renaissance and in Italy Lucretia, the daughter of the grand duke is only thirteen, but as tragedy has taken her older sister, the one to be married to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucretia finds herself being married to this thirty year old man.
Alphonso, her new husband, is at first quite solicitous, but Lucretia, is in a strange court, unaware of customs, and frightened of the intrigues and whispers, as everyone including Alphonso's sisters seem to be terrified of their brother.
Lucretia soon learns why as she witnesses Alphonso's change of moods and his cruelty as he wields absolute power. She also learns why she is there, that to be a bearer of Alphonso's children (especially males), and if she does not accomplish this task, her life is in the balance.
Told with such vivid details and so well written that I felt as if I was there, witnessing this young woman's loneliness and underlying fear.
For those of us who love well written and researched historical fiction, this is definitely one for you. I will definitely set Maggie O' Farrell as a must read for her marvelous portrayal of her characters and the times they lived in.
June 18, 2023
After seeing so many raving reviews for this book, and because it was a Reese Witherspoon book club pick for December 2022, I decided to give this book a chance. This is one book that I am so glad that I did. This was such a nice break from the monotony of thrillers that I have been reading. I will admit I was hesitant, as reading about an arranged marriage in the 1550’s didn’t seem all that appealing to me. But trust me- you will feel as if you are living through the pages with this book. It was captivating!
The Marriage Portrait is based on the story of Lucrezia de Medici. From the day Lucrezia was conceived, her parents and siblings felt there was something wrong with her. They felt as if Lucrezia didn’t belong, she was known as the troublesome fifth child. Lucrezia could sense things, could read a room, and had a very keen eye…
Lucrezia’s parents sent her off to marry when she was only 15 years old, and her husband- Alfonso II, was 27 years old. She begged for this marriage not to take place, but because of Alfonso’s status as the Duke, they sent her away anyway.
Although Lucrezia was young, she did not feel that Alfonso’s love towards her was real like that of her parents. Lucrezia was not allowed to question things, and she was often left alone. I believe Alfonso’s true character was given when he sent Lucrezia a bridal gift (before the marriage took place). Alfonso broke tradition somewhat by sending Lucrezia a painting of a stone marten (a weasel). Perhaps that was his way of letting her know that he was a weasel himself (we all know how much people love to show their true colors).
Once married, Alfonso insists that a professional marriage portrait be taken of Lucrezia. She must pose in fancy gowns and jewels. Will this portrait be the last memory of Lucrezia?
I highly recommend reading this book! So very rewarding and memorable. However, I cannot give this book five stars because of the super long chapters (sorry, but it’s a major pet peeve of mine), and it did tend to get quite ‘wordy’ and drag on through some parts. Regardless, you will find this author is quite brilliant and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future.
The Marriage Portrait is based on the story of Lucrezia de Medici. From the day Lucrezia was conceived, her parents and siblings felt there was something wrong with her. They felt as if Lucrezia didn’t belong, she was known as the troublesome fifth child. Lucrezia could sense things, could read a room, and had a very keen eye…
Lucrezia’s parents sent her off to marry when she was only 15 years old, and her husband- Alfonso II, was 27 years old. She begged for this marriage not to take place, but because of Alfonso’s status as the Duke, they sent her away anyway.
Although Lucrezia was young, she did not feel that Alfonso’s love towards her was real like that of her parents. Lucrezia was not allowed to question things, and she was often left alone. I believe Alfonso’s true character was given when he sent Lucrezia a bridal gift (before the marriage took place). Alfonso broke tradition somewhat by sending Lucrezia a painting of a stone marten (a weasel). Perhaps that was his way of letting her know that he was a weasel himself (we all know how much people love to show their true colors).
Once married, Alfonso insists that a professional marriage portrait be taken of Lucrezia. She must pose in fancy gowns and jewels. Will this portrait be the last memory of Lucrezia?
I highly recommend reading this book! So very rewarding and memorable. However, I cannot give this book five stars because of the super long chapters (sorry, but it’s a major pet peeve of mine), and it did tend to get quite ‘wordy’ and drag on through some parts. Regardless, you will find this author is quite brilliant and I am looking forward to reading more from her in the future.
June 20, 2022
“I am going to commission a new one immediately,” Alfonso exclaims. “An allegorical scene or a religious one. Or, now I look at her here, I am thinking perhaps just a three quarter profile, exactly as she is. A marriage portrait. What do you think?”
I haven’t read a lot of Maggie O’Farrell, but I very much enjoyed both her memoir (I Am, I Am, I Am) and her last historical novel (Hamnet; on the death of Shakespeare’s son, which won multiple literary prizes), so I expected to like The Marriage Portrait very much as well. And it was just okay. More historical fiction than literary fiction, this is an imagining of the life and marriage of Lucrezia de’ Medici, and while the plot is an interesting enough take on the time and place (Florence and Ferrara in the mid-sixteenth century), I made little emotional connection with the characters (and honestly found more psychological insight into the Duke of Ferrara in Robert Browning’s inspirational poem “My Last Duchess” and the corresponding analysis to be found on it at The Poetry Foundation website). I don’t regret picking this up — I learned a lot (and especially off the page) — but this wasn’t an entirely successful novel for me. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
How will he do it? Part of her would like to ask him this. The knife in a dark corridor? His hands about her throat? A tumble from a horse made to look like an accident? She has no doubt that all of these would fall within his repertoire. It had better be done well, would be her advice to him, because her father is not someone who will take a lenient view of his daughter’s murder. She sets down her cup; she lifts her chin; she turns her eyes on to her husband, Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, and wonders what will happen next.
As the novel opens, Lucrezia, at sixteen, has been married for a year to the mercurial Duke of Ferrara. Having been spirited away from the palace to a dank hunting lodge in the woods for a “rest”, Lucrezia becomes convinced that her husband has isolated her in order to kill her. Sections alternate between long stretches that detail Lucrezia’s backstory and shorter bits that describe the events that transpire at the lodge, and a centerpiece in each timeline is the creation and unveiling of a marriage portrait of his wife that the Duke commissions from his Court painter, Il Bastianino (I don’t believe this portrait exists; it is not the one used as the cover art.) And why would the Duke want to murder his young bride? Could it be because she has failed to provide him with a desperately needed heir within the first year of marriage?
Lucrezia stands there, in her travelling dress, in her fifteen year-old skin. She feels as though these people desire to see right through her; they are like anatomists who peel back the hides of animals to peer inside, who unclothe muscle from skin and vein from bone, assessing and concluding and noting. They, all of them, pulse with the craving, the need, to see a child growing within her, to know that an heir is secured for them. They see her as the portal, the means to their family’s survival. Lucrezia wants to fasten her cloak about herself, to hide her hands up her sleeves, to tie her cap to her head, to pull a veil over her face. You shall not look at me, she wants to say, you shall not see into me. I will not be yours. How dare you assess me and find me lacking? I am not La Fecundissima and never will be.
O’Farrell implies that the Duke was interested in marrying a Medici daughter because their mother had had so many children that she had been nicknamed “La Fecundissima”, and as he in his years of youthful indiscretions had failed to father even a bastard child, Alfonso had thought he was getting himself a brood mare from proven lines (the Duke had originally been engaged to an older Medici sister but turned his attention to a then twelve-year-old Lucrezia upon Maria’s sudden death). The plot provides plenty of space for colour (the customs, the clothing, the politics), and there is satisfying tension in discovering whether or not Lucrezia’s husband is actually trying to kill her, but I didn’t really like the details of the plot (not the encounter with the tiger, not Lucrezia’s constant daydreaming and dissociating, not the reason for Jacopo’s muteness), but worst of all I didn’t like the actual ending . Not touching or exciting or lyrical, the plot hitting some fairly expected beats: this was just okay.
January 28, 2025
This is my first book by Maggie O'Farrell, my first read of the year, and a surprisingly haunting story. I've always been fascinated with the Medici family and historical Italy--the darkness of a superpower that once was...
This is the story of Lucrezia, daughter of Cosimo de Medici, set in the 1550s. When her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia is forced to marry the duke, and her father is just as quick to accept. Her husband, Alfonso, seems refined, with artists and musicians circling his orbit. Yet, he only wants one thing from Lucerezia, an heir.
As Lucrezia sits for a portrait that will epitomize her for centuries to come, it becomes clear to her that she is nothing but a pawn.
The beauty of The Marriage Portrait is the elegant prose. O'Farrel writes with such vigor and elegance as if she is a voyeur into the soul of Lucerezia. We see her as an innocent child, living in her freedom, then as a married woman, caged in the walls of the Duke's home, fearful, always of her impending death.
Sadness keeps attempting to tie weights to her wrists and ankles, therefore she has to keep moving, she has to outpace it.
How Lucerezia tries to find agency amidst her painful circumstances is empowering. This may be the part of the story that isn't historically accurate, but it was well imagined.
There is creativity in the writing when words keep you guessing a character's true intentions. The story enveloped me. There are pages after pages dedicated to the intricate moments leading up to the wedding. Her feelings, emotions, the sadness seeped through every word, and I was immersed.
An example of O'Farrell's craftsmanship (writing about a gown)…
A story I loved 5/5 stars
This is the story of Lucrezia, daughter of Cosimo de Medici, set in the 1550s. When her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia is forced to marry the duke, and her father is just as quick to accept. Her husband, Alfonso, seems refined, with artists and musicians circling his orbit. Yet, he only wants one thing from Lucerezia, an heir.
As Lucrezia sits for a portrait that will epitomize her for centuries to come, it becomes clear to her that she is nothing but a pawn.
The beauty of The Marriage Portrait is the elegant prose. O'Farrel writes with such vigor and elegance as if she is a voyeur into the soul of Lucerezia. We see her as an innocent child, living in her freedom, then as a married woman, caged in the walls of the Duke's home, fearful, always of her impending death.
Sadness keeps attempting to tie weights to her wrists and ankles, therefore she has to keep moving, she has to outpace it.
How Lucerezia tries to find agency amidst her painful circumstances is empowering. This may be the part of the story that isn't historically accurate, but it was well imagined.
There is creativity in the writing when words keep you guessing a character's true intentions. The story enveloped me. There are pages after pages dedicated to the intricate moments leading up to the wedding. Her feelings, emotions, the sadness seeped through every word, and I was immersed.
An example of O'Farrell's craftsmanship (writing about a gown)…
The gown rustles and slides around her, speaking a glossolalia all of its own, the silk moving against the rougher nap of the underskirts, the bone supports of the bodice straining and squealing against their coverings, the cuffs scuffing and chafing the skin of her wrists, the stiffened collar hooking and nibbling at her nape, the hip supports creaking like the rigging of a ship. It is a symphony, an orchestra of fabrics, and Lucrezia would like to cover her ears, but she cannot.
A story I loved 5/5 stars
March 29, 2025
I try to avoid reading, let alone mentioning, spoilers. However, with this, you are told before the first page that the main character will die aged 16, a year after marriage, and that she will be expecting it to be at her husband’s behest. Yet it’s compelling.
Image: Portrait of Lucrezia, Duchess Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, attributed to Bronzino or Alessandro Allori. She was in her mid teens. (Source)
There are two timelines, with a mix of present and past tenses: Lucrezia’s childhood and her marriage, during which the portrait is painted.
Lucrezia is a bright, sensitive, difficult child, with a talent and passion for painting. Her parents allow her to have art tuition (in addition to the usual lessons for girls). Dead animals and birds are common subjects and she’s fascinated by the secrecy of underpainting. Symbols of death lurk in every lavish nook of the palazzo, sometimes in plain sight, and sometimes shrouded in beauty.
The tigress
A foreign dignitary gives Lucrezia’s father a painting of a tiger, prompting him to get one for the menagerie in the cellars. When Lucrezia thinks she hears it arriving “at this velvet-black time of night”, she sneaks through secret passages to see it:
“The tigress did not so much pace as pour herself, as if her very essence was molten, simmering… She was power and anger, she was vicious and exquisite… Liquid was her motion, like honey from a spoon.”
Lucrecia is overwhelmed by the tigress’ beauty, power, and loneliness. She touches it, and is unharmed. It is a defining experience, connection, and recurring metaphor.
“She felt the secret of the tigress move within her, like a bright ribbon weaving in and out of her ribs… To look into her eyes was to behold the visage of an incandescent, forbidden deity.”
Image: Japanese picture of a tiger c1560 (roughly when this story is set), ink on paper (Source)
Annie Garthwaite does something similar in Cecily, where she focuses on the story of a strong and clever woman in an age when few women were able to be exercise such talent. However, she takes a more strongly feminist slant, coupled with almost contemporary dialogue. See my review HERE.
Child marriage
Both the Medici and d’Este families were rich and powerful, and keen to remain so, hence the importance of a strategic marriage, as well as courtly politics and plots. Those aspects are engagingly told, but it’s primarily about being raised to be married off - the emotional and physical limitations of a gilded cage in a world where women are almost powerless. O’Farrell takes the reader deep into the minds of all the many and varied characters.
When Lucrezia meets her future husband for the second time, he remembers their only prior conversation and gives her a little painting of a stone marten, local to Ferrara. She is unnerved that he has “intuited a way to her heart”.
Image: A stone marten (Source)
She wonders if the lilies of her wedding bouquet should be held as a shield or a lance, as she approaches the sacrificial altar.
“It is done, she is married… it can never be undone. She is no longer the person she has always been but someone else she doesn’t yet know.”
She is but a child, never been touched by any man, not even a cousin or priest, and with no idea what to expect, although she knows she needs to produce an heir. Alfonso promises never to hurt her.
She is but a child, and although she’s observant and perceptive, she doesn’t understand all the secret goings on of court, putting her and others at risk.
The ending was a little far-fetched, except that it had long been hinted at (and a few years after this was set, Shakespeare pulled similar tricks).
Quotes
• “It had rained all night and all morning, the palazzo roof giving off a staccato thrum. The piazza… was slick with water, flagstones gleaming and reptilian, fallen leaves choking the gutters.”
• “Nothing can touch her in a place as beautiful as this, as heavenly… she is filled to her outer edges with the soaring space, the insubstantial celestial rafters of light that mimic the prosaic wooden ones above.”
• “The flowers undulating beneath a fleece of bees.”
• “She… sees the tiny brushstrokes in the grainy surface of the tempera, signs of the long-ago artist trying to wield authority over his pigments… It is almost as if the colours have retreated into the wall, to hide themselves, to wait out the centuries.”
• “She is still in the world of the painting, her mind running on its interplay of light and shade, the arrangement of shapes, and the ever-intriguing conundrum of how to render something three-dimensional on the flat surface of paper.”
• “When he glances up… he doesn’t see a person. He sees an arrangement of shapes, an intersection of planes and angles, a meshing of light and shade.”
• “Something seems to solidify in the air, in the beams of their eyes, flowing from her to him and back again, creating an almost tangible channel between them.”
• “‘Welcome,’ Nunciata says, in a tone that pulls away from the meaning of the word.”
• “He is caught up in the music, a willing butterfly in its beautiful fragile net.”
• “The curlicues of steam write themselves on the air above the basins of hot weather… They twist and writhe, like serpents responding to pipe music, finding their way to the windows, their shed skins adhering to the cold panes.”
• “She is aware, to an almost unbearable degree, of different gazes in this room, and the way they stream towards her, like the sticky, silken threads of a spider’s web.”
Image: Lucrezia’s mother, Eleanor of Toledo, Duchess of Florence, by Bronzino (Source)
Historical background
• Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, married Lucrezia de’ Medici in 1558, when he was 24 and she was 14. Her older sister had been betrothed to him, but when she died, Lucrezia was substituted. After the wedding, he stayed away for a year, and when he returned, she quickly wasted away and died. There were rumours of poisoning, but pulmonary tuberculosis is more likely.
• That story inspired Robert Browning’s poem, My Last Duchess, which is about her portrait. It opens:
“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive”.
You can read it HERE.
• Ali Smith was also inspired by frescoes in Ferrara in How to be Both. See my review HERE.
Image: Portrait of Lucrezia, Duchess Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, attributed to Bronzino or Alessandro Allori. She was in her mid teens. (Source)
There are two timelines, with a mix of present and past tenses: Lucrezia’s childhood and her marriage, during which the portrait is painted.
Lucrezia is a bright, sensitive, difficult child, with a talent and passion for painting. Her parents allow her to have art tuition (in addition to the usual lessons for girls). Dead animals and birds are common subjects and she’s fascinated by the secrecy of underpainting. Symbols of death lurk in every lavish nook of the palazzo, sometimes in plain sight, and sometimes shrouded in beauty.
The tigress
A foreign dignitary gives Lucrezia’s father a painting of a tiger, prompting him to get one for the menagerie in the cellars. When Lucrezia thinks she hears it arriving “at this velvet-black time of night”, she sneaks through secret passages to see it:
“The tigress did not so much pace as pour herself, as if her very essence was molten, simmering… She was power and anger, she was vicious and exquisite… Liquid was her motion, like honey from a spoon.”
Lucrecia is overwhelmed by the tigress’ beauty, power, and loneliness. She touches it, and is unharmed. It is a defining experience, connection, and recurring metaphor.
“She felt the secret of the tigress move within her, like a bright ribbon weaving in and out of her ribs… To look into her eyes was to behold the visage of an incandescent, forbidden deity.”
Image: Japanese picture of a tiger c1560 (roughly when this story is set), ink on paper (Source)
Annie Garthwaite does something similar in Cecily, where she focuses on the story of a strong and clever woman in an age when few women were able to be exercise such talent. However, she takes a more strongly feminist slant, coupled with almost contemporary dialogue. See my review HERE.
Child marriage
Both the Medici and d’Este families were rich and powerful, and keen to remain so, hence the importance of a strategic marriage, as well as courtly politics and plots. Those aspects are engagingly told, but it’s primarily about being raised to be married off - the emotional and physical limitations of a gilded cage in a world where women are almost powerless. O’Farrell takes the reader deep into the minds of all the many and varied characters.
When Lucrezia meets her future husband for the second time, he remembers their only prior conversation and gives her a little painting of a stone marten, local to Ferrara. She is unnerved that he has “intuited a way to her heart”.
Image: A stone marten (Source)
She wonders if the lilies of her wedding bouquet should be held as a shield or a lance, as she approaches the sacrificial altar.
“It is done, she is married… it can never be undone. She is no longer the person she has always been but someone else she doesn’t yet know.”
She is but a child, never been touched by any man, not even a cousin or priest, and with no idea what to expect, although she knows she needs to produce an heir. Alfonso promises never to hurt her.
She is but a child, and although she’s observant and perceptive, she doesn’t understand all the secret goings on of court, putting her and others at risk.
The ending was a little far-fetched, except that it had long been hinted at (and a few years after this was set, Shakespeare pulled similar tricks).
Quotes
• “It had rained all night and all morning, the palazzo roof giving off a staccato thrum. The piazza… was slick with water, flagstones gleaming and reptilian, fallen leaves choking the gutters.”
• “Nothing can touch her in a place as beautiful as this, as heavenly… she is filled to her outer edges with the soaring space, the insubstantial celestial rafters of light that mimic the prosaic wooden ones above.”
• “The flowers undulating beneath a fleece of bees.”
• “She… sees the tiny brushstrokes in the grainy surface of the tempera, signs of the long-ago artist trying to wield authority over his pigments… It is almost as if the colours have retreated into the wall, to hide themselves, to wait out the centuries.”
• “She is still in the world of the painting, her mind running on its interplay of light and shade, the arrangement of shapes, and the ever-intriguing conundrum of how to render something three-dimensional on the flat surface of paper.”
• “When he glances up… he doesn’t see a person. He sees an arrangement of shapes, an intersection of planes and angles, a meshing of light and shade.”
• “Something seems to solidify in the air, in the beams of their eyes, flowing from her to him and back again, creating an almost tangible channel between them.”
• “‘Welcome,’ Nunciata says, in a tone that pulls away from the meaning of the word.”
• “He is caught up in the music, a willing butterfly in its beautiful fragile net.”
• “The curlicues of steam write themselves on the air above the basins of hot weather… They twist and writhe, like serpents responding to pipe music, finding their way to the windows, their shed skins adhering to the cold panes.”
• “She is aware, to an almost unbearable degree, of different gazes in this room, and the way they stream towards her, like the sticky, silken threads of a spider’s web.”
Image: Lucrezia’s mother, Eleanor of Toledo, Duchess of Florence, by Bronzino (Source)
Historical background
• Alfonso II d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, married Lucrezia de’ Medici in 1558, when he was 24 and she was 14. Her older sister had been betrothed to him, but when she died, Lucrezia was substituted. After the wedding, he stayed away for a year, and when he returned, she quickly wasted away and died. There were rumours of poisoning, but pulmonary tuberculosis is more likely.
• That story inspired Robert Browning’s poem, My Last Duchess, which is about her portrait. It opens:
“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive”.
You can read it HERE.
• Ali Smith was also inspired by frescoes in Ferrara in How to be Both. See my review HERE.
December 3, 2022
DNF 60%
The Marriage Portrait is very beautiful (The tigress didn’t so much pace as pour herself, as if her very essence was molten, simmering.), but sometimes the meat of the novel is lost in the pretty prose. It’s difficult to follow the progression of the plot. The book takes a long time to get where it’s going, and while that isn’t necessarily a flaw, it does make it difficult to get immersed in the story. It often feels symbolic for the sake of being symbolic, and the writing is sometimes overdone where simple prose would leave a bigger impact (She presses it to the pad of her index finger, watching as the blood flees from it, creating a white depression in her flesh, cringing away from its power.).
The Marriage Portrait is very beautiful (The tigress didn’t so much pace as pour herself, as if her very essence was molten, simmering.), but sometimes the meat of the novel is lost in the pretty prose. It’s difficult to follow the progression of the plot. The book takes a long time to get where it’s going, and while that isn’t necessarily a flaw, it does make it difficult to get immersed in the story. It often feels symbolic for the sake of being symbolic, and the writing is sometimes overdone where simple prose would leave a bigger impact (She presses it to the pad of her index finger, watching as the blood flees from it, creating a white depression in her flesh, cringing away from its power.).
November 7, 2024
Dear Bookish Friends,
Maggie O’Farrell is not an author. She must be some kind of a wizard who puts us in a time machine to transport us to Italy in the 16th century to witness the glory and cruelty. It’s a time span in Europe when women were ruled by the mood swings and commands of their fathers, mothers, brothers or husbands. It’s also a time span when art, poetry and theatre kept on flourishing in Italy leaving its worldwide footprint till today. Managing the intra-dynamic relationships in a fortress is a masterwork, whilst ensuring not to lose the inner compass to manoeuvre dangerous twists. The razor-sharp focus lies on enriching wealth by smart marriages and bearing future dukes and duchesses. Now, all these responsibilities are given to sixteen-years-old Lucrezia di Cosimo. How is she going to cope with all that?
Maggie O‘Farrell induces you to the heart-wrenching destiny of Lucrezia. Her writing is evocative and every sentence feels like a polished diamond. As O’Farrell tells the story of injustice, she doesn’t miss to convey well-researched historical as well as artistic facts of Italy in the 16th century.
I was completely drained by the end of my journey with Lucrezia.
Yours, Nilguen
Find me on instagram
Maggie O’Farrell is not an author. She must be some kind of a wizard who puts us in a time machine to transport us to Italy in the 16th century to witness the glory and cruelty. It’s a time span in Europe when women were ruled by the mood swings and commands of their fathers, mothers, brothers or husbands. It’s also a time span when art, poetry and theatre kept on flourishing in Italy leaving its worldwide footprint till today. Managing the intra-dynamic relationships in a fortress is a masterwork, whilst ensuring not to lose the inner compass to manoeuvre dangerous twists. The razor-sharp focus lies on enriching wealth by smart marriages and bearing future dukes and duchesses. Now, all these responsibilities are given to sixteen-years-old Lucrezia di Cosimo. How is she going to cope with all that?
Maggie O‘Farrell induces you to the heart-wrenching destiny of Lucrezia. Her writing is evocative and every sentence feels like a polished diamond. As O’Farrell tells the story of injustice, she doesn’t miss to convey well-researched historical as well as artistic facts of Italy in the 16th century.
I was completely drained by the end of my journey with Lucrezia.
Yours, Nilguen
Find me on instagram
September 14, 2022
I think my enjoyment of this book was hampered by my expectations.
I've never read anything by Maggie O'Farrell, though I've been tempted by Hamnet. I think she has a beautiful writing style that's evocative and poetic, and occasionally reminiscent of Angela Carter. The brief moments of Eleanora di Toledo and Cosimo de'Medici are the most best in the book, and I wish she hust wrote about them. In terms of the story, O'Farrell's writing peaks during the scenes of Lucrezia's conception and her encounter with the tiger—and then the entire book slowly slides downhill.
This book is based in such rich subject matter that I found what O'Farrell plucked from historical record ultimately disappointing and unmemorable. There are a series of three Medici princesses rumoured to have been murdered by their husbands—and rather than use this fact within her plot, O'Farrell ignores it. Alfonso II's three sisters and their mothers were all extraordinary personalities who were passionate about learning and love and religion and rebellion, and they're reduced to footnotes in a story that very much could have been theirs as well.
Rather than include Lucrezia de'Medici's story within this rich tapestry of women, O'Farrell plucks Lucrezia out and insists that she alone is worthy of saving from historical record. She paints Lucrezia de Medici was an extraordinary girl surrounded by ordinary women, sad women, bitchy women, superficial women... and it's just so done. Isabella exists to be her foil, a vapid girl compared to her wild younger sister. Maria is stern, sour, and then a ghost. Leonora, the cousin, doesn't exist at all. This book shared a LOT in common with every Anastasia Romanova historical fiction (ignoring or insulting the other Romanova girls + throwing in a personality-less male character to "rescue" the heroine), and that isn't a compliment.
And the book ends exactly at what would've been the emotional crux of it! There is no catharsis. No emotional pay-off, nothing. It's a deus ex machina to explain a half-baked ending that I guess is supposed to be "feminist" because ?
In my opinion, this book would be best enjoyed if you go into it with a clean slate and don't research the actual people that the book is based on. Otherwise, you'll find yourself disappointed by the stories and, in particular, every woman that O'Farrell missed.
I've never read anything by Maggie O'Farrell, though I've been tempted by Hamnet. I think she has a beautiful writing style that's evocative and poetic, and occasionally reminiscent of Angela Carter. The brief moments of Eleanora di Toledo and Cosimo de'Medici are the most best in the book, and I wish she hust wrote about them. In terms of the story, O'Farrell's writing peaks during the scenes of Lucrezia's conception and her encounter with the tiger—and then the entire book slowly slides downhill.
This book is based in such rich subject matter that I found what O'Farrell plucked from historical record ultimately disappointing and unmemorable. There are a series of three Medici princesses rumoured to have been murdered by their husbands—and rather than use this fact within her plot, O'Farrell ignores it. Alfonso II's three sisters and their mothers were all extraordinary personalities who were passionate about learning and love and religion and rebellion, and they're reduced to footnotes in a story that very much could have been theirs as well.
Rather than include Lucrezia de'Medici's story within this rich tapestry of women, O'Farrell plucks Lucrezia out and insists that she alone is worthy of saving from historical record. She paints Lucrezia de Medici was an extraordinary girl surrounded by ordinary women, sad women, bitchy women, superficial women... and it's just so done. Isabella exists to be her foil, a vapid girl compared to her wild younger sister. Maria is stern, sour, and then a ghost. Leonora, the cousin, doesn't exist at all. This book shared a LOT in common with every Anastasia Romanova historical fiction (ignoring or insulting the other Romanova girls + throwing in a personality-less male character to "rescue" the heroine), and that isn't a compliment.
And the book ends exactly at what would've been the emotional crux of it! There is no catharsis. No emotional pay-off, nothing. It's a deus ex machina to explain a half-baked ending that I guess is supposed to be "feminist" because ?
In my opinion, this book would be best enjoyed if you go into it with a clean slate and don't research the actual people that the book is based on. Otherwise, you'll find yourself disappointed by the stories and, in particular, every woman that O'Farrell missed.
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