The Princess of Mantua

by Marie Ferranti, Andrew Brown (Translator)

Who is the real woman who looks out at us from Mantegna’s masterful painting, The Gonzaga Family ? In this prize-winning international bestseller, Marie Ferranti takes us through the backdoor of everyday 15th-century life into a world populated by some of the greatest figures and artists of the age. It is 1433, and the 10-year-old Barbara von Brandenburg leaves her native Germany to marry the Prince of Mantua, Ludovico Gonzaga. When her husband leaves for war immediately after, she finds herself at the center of one of the most refined courts in Europe, and when, seven years later, Ludovico returns victorious from his campaigns, she has to live with him through the most difficult trials—illnesses, mourning, and the curse of all Gonzaga women are born hunchbacked. Based on a series of letters between Barbara and her cousin Maria, The Princess of Mantua is an example of docu-fiction at its most exquisite. French novelist Marie Ferranti’s most recent work is The Night Hunt.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Italy, France, Renaissance

116 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 2002

About the author

Marie Ferranti est le pseudonyme de Marie-Dominique Mariotti, une écrivaine française, née en 1959.

Marie Ferranti is the nom de plume of Marie-Dominique Mariotti, a French writer, born in 1959.

Reviews

[Elena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Questo libro mi ha lasciata abbastanza perplessa.

Sapevo da alcune recensioni oltraggiate che l'idea dietro questo romanzo è un po' particolare: l'autrice, basandosi sul famoso affresco della Camera degli Sposi a Mantova, inventa abbastanza di sana pianta la storia della vita di Barbara di Brandeburgo. Pur apprezzando maggiormente gli autori che si preoccupano di studiare attentamente il periodo storico e i personaggi per scrivere romanzi più verosimili possibili, avevo comunque accettato la cosa e ho iniziato il libro senza pregiudizi.

La storia però non mi ha preso. Intanto, devo ammettere che i continui riferimenti a lettere di Barbara, documenti ecc. che di fatto non esistono, è davvero un po' irritante. Capisco che vuoi inventare tutto di sana pianta, ma citare continuamente documenti inesistenti mi sembrava eccessivo. Tutto il libro, poi, è narrato con uno stile sobrio e abbastanza arido, e la storia è più simile a un saggio che a un romanzo, pur mancando della ricchezza di dettagli che si trova nelle biografie storiche. Mi ha ricordato La figlia del papa di Dario Fo, anch'esso scritto con uno stile molto particolare e in prima persona, ma quest'ultimo l'ho apprezzato di più per l'ironia dell'autore e perché i personaggi mi sembravano comunque ben caratterizzati.

La protagonista, Barbara, non mi ha convinto per niente: è a volte del tutto anonima e a volte odiosa, e per questo è difficile appassionarsi alla sua storia. La sua cattiveria verso la figlia minore è in particolare davvero difficile da digerire e abbastanza gratuita. Me la spiego solo come volontà dell'autrice di rendere la sua protagonista non troppo "perfetta" e più interessante. Personalmente, però, missione fallita...

In conclusione, è un libro che si legge, ma non offre più di tanto, né credo mi rimarrà impresso in alcun modo.

[Chequers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pensavo che questo libro fosse un saggio.Come saggio e' un po' stringato, ma passabile, visto che le informazioni su Barbara di Brandeburgo non sono moltissime.Arrivata all'ultima pagina, l'autrice dice che e' un romanzo, che alcuni personaggi sono inventati e le situazioni di fantasia.Allora come romanzo non e' neanche passabile, troppo corto e senza spessore.

[Lewis Boyd · Rating 1 out of 5]

uniquely dull - written as if emotion were a cardinal sin. it labours under the pretensions of being an accurate, academic text - but the postscript reveals none of it even happened! then why not make it a decent novel??

probably the worst book i've read in full.

[freckledbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

A captivating read! If a mother's love is wanting, a husband's love is wanting, and a father has affluence of power, yet that power is weak; too weak to allow the human heart to protect his daughter from dying of a broken heart, what follows? The curious brain will keep reading. Riddled with disparity, it is almost unreal, so one continues to read the book. The reader realizes he is at the end of the book and thinks, what was real? The book was slim in size though fatted with goodness. 4/5

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't care what awards it won, it read like an Alison Weir project but ended with an afterword that was the equivalent of saying, "Oh, and what you thought was real or compelling, I just made up." Who can sympathize with that?

[Damien Travel · Rating 5 out of 5]

In « The Princess of Mantua (La Princesse de Mantoue)», French author Marie Ferranti proposes an even more radical experience for an encounter between art and literature. The spark that inspired her novel is Andrea Mantegna’s fresco in the « The House of Spouses» in the San Giorgio castle in Mantua. I visited the palatial house of the Dukes of Gonzaga last year and was struck by the expressivity of the faces in the family compositions painted by Mantegna. So much that, like the author, I found myself imagining the lives of these aristocrats during the Quattrocento in Lombardy.
Marie Ferranti focuses on Barbara von Brandenburg’s face, « with her eyes tired and yellow, stretched towards the temples like a cat». Through letters exchanged with her cousin Maria von Hohenzollern, an imaginary correspondence but build on a patient documentation work, the novelist tells the story of this young German princess who was sent at age 10 on the other side of the Alps to marry Ludovico, the heir of the Gonzagas, then himself still a puny teenager. When her husband comes back from several years fighting in wars, he has gained in confidence, as much in conducting the Duchy’s affairs as in bed where he molests his wife. Births follow each other: Barbara manages to fit in the mold of a mother, spouse and adviser, but will never find it in herself to love Paola, her youngest daughter, born a hunchback. She becomes bitter, retreats and shuts herself in the « House of the Spouses », the jewel case completed by Mantegna which was designed to showcase to the world the power of the Gonzaga couple.
http://www.travelreadings.org/2020/09...

[Martine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Présenté et raconté comme de la non-fiction, La Princesse de Mantoue est bien un roman.

J'apprécie moyennement la non-fiction, car je trouve toujours le récit comme manquant de sentiment, comme écrit à distance. Même quand on me dit que telle personne souffre ou se réjouie, j'ai du mal à partager le sentiment. Ici aussi, donc, je n'ai pas réussi à avoir beaucoup d'empathie pour Barbara. Comme on ne peut savoir ce qui est vrai ou pas dans ce que l'on a lu, je ne sais pas si je le regrette vraiment.
Je trouve particulièrement oisif d'écrire la vie d'un personnage réel à partir de fragments éparses et de remplir les trous à l'envie. En temps que lectrice, j'ai le sentiment est que j'ai perdu mon temps, lire ce livre en oubliant que c'est un roman, se laissant prendre par l'artifice narratif qui le présente comme un ouvrage d'Histoire, j'ai emmagasiné des connaissances qui sont fausses et pire je ne sait reconnaitre le vrai du faux.

En gardant en tête que c'est de la fiction : dans cet ouvrage, il y a la "vie" de Barbara de Gonzague, la Princesse de Mantoue, mais il y a aussi la création d'une oeuvre - La Chambre des époux - une salle d'apparat entièrement peinte par Andrea Mantegna, de diverses fresques donc le trompe-l'oeil d'un oculus au plafond, des bustes en médaillons et des scènes représentant une distinction de la famille.
Ce sont ces chapitres, qui décrivent - bien que brièvement - le processus artistique qui m'ont le plus plût.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agréablement surprise par ce livre pour lequel je n'avais absolument aucune attente puisque l'ayant récupéré par hasard dans une boite à livre, à vrai dire parce que c'était une édition de la collection blanche de Gallimard (et je n'en avait encore jamais possédé).

Ce livre fut vraiment super agréable à lire. La plume est envoutante et drôle grâce à son coté un peu dur et cassant. J'ai adoré lire un roman historique se passant au sein d'un palais de l'Italie du XVème siècle (je n'y suis absolument pas habituée cela m'a changé en bien).
L'histoire bien qu'au premier abord parait un peu ennuyante (peu d'action) ce n'est pas du tout le cas : on a envie rapidement d'en savoir plus sur les personnages (grâce à la plume selon moi).
Enfin, le livre ne fait que 104 pages donc l'ennui est peu probable en si peu de pages.
Ce n'est pas ma lecture de l'année mais pour sortir de sa zone de confort rapidement et découvrir une nouvelle autrice c'est top !

[Annina Luck Wildermuth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprise find at a library sale which reads like non-fiction but is historical fiction. The Princess of Mantua is the formidable woman in the famous Mantegna painting, Barbara von Brandenburg who married Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and patron of Mantegna. At 113 pages long it is the antithesis of most historical novels. I was reminded about a non-fiction book "Renaissance Tapestry..." by Kate Simon which I might re-read. And it also inspired me to take a long look at the "Gonzaga Family" painting.

[Roger Smitter]

This short novel uses character-types and plots from a few famous works to make a useful and engaging story line, with a focus on how families operate, for good and for bad. And there’s a nice teenager theme that shows that teenage love can be good. At times in the book, it seems that this is a 21st century Shakespeare for young readers and parents.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il libro di per sé non è scritto male, ricrea la vita di Barbara di Brandeburgo, e riesce a ricreare dei momenti sicuramente unici della sua vita. La nota negativa è la postfazione, che spiega il lavoro alla base della scrittura del libro.

[Victoria Grusing · Rating 1 out of 5]

An intriguing young woman's face is on the cover of this delicate sized, inviting book. After reading it, we know nothing about her or even, for sure, who she is. We know pretty much nothing of value as the author has chosen a random woman from a random painting to make up a story about. This book is the perfect epitome of "Don't judge a book by it's cover.
If you are going to make up a story, at least make it worth reading.

[Simon Edge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slender in every respect. The apparent acclaim and the prize from the Académie Française are baffling

[Blasr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather odd. Could have done with a larger, annotated picture of the painting. Translation a bit clunky?, or could it be a direct and accurate version of the original French?

[constance · Rating 5 out of 5]

un univers que j’adore, une écriture soignée et une fantaisie crédible

[Perry Middlemiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a strange little book this is. It supposedly tells the life story of Barbara of Brandenburg (1422-1481) who was married to Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua at the age of ten, when he was nineteen. Immediately after the marriage Ludovico abandons his wife and enters the service of the Duke of Milan. Seven years later he returns a conquering hero and resumes his marriage to Barbara, and settles down to rule. Her story is told based mostly on her letters to her German cousin, Maria of Hohenzollern, which detail her hopes and dreams, worries for her ten children (well, only some of them), and the goings-on at the court of Mantua. This is described in the flyleaf as a piece of “docufiction”, which is normally applied to a genre of film but which seems to fits this book admirably. This is an interesting novel, though I doubt I will remember it for long. R: 3.2/5.0

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

History is interesting to me. History is an account of people and events through the passage of time. Though we often think that history is based on the Laws of Evidence (accurate, complete and relevant), we also have to recognize that historic accounts are subject to the subtleties, interpretations and nuances of the historian. If one is looking for the aura, flavor, feeling and atmosphere of a particular period of time, docu-fiction is often an enjoyable route to take. The Princess of Mantua by Marie Ferranti (translated by Andrew Brown) is such a story. First there are the facts. In 1433, Barbara von Brandenburg left her home in Brandenburg-Kulmbach at the age of ten and went to Mantua to marry Prince Ludovico III Gonzaga. The Prince almost immediately ran away to spend the next dozen or so years fighting, adventuring and making a name for himself, leaving his bride alone to grow from a girl into a woman. In 1444 Ludovico succeeded to the Marquisate of Mantua. Together he and Barbara produced fourteen children, lived through a series of life challenges including illnesses, the death of four infant children, mourning and the curse of heredity: all Gonzaga women are born hunchbacked. Barbara was active as Ludovico’s political adviser with the responsibility of foreign diplomatic correspondence, in particular when it pertained to relations between Mantua and Germany. The Gonzagas were important patrons of art, music and architecture and Barbara is regarded as an important figure in the Italian Renaissance. The family is the subject of Andrea Mantegna’s masterful fresco, The Court of Mantua. Then comes the fiction. The Princess of Mantua is based on a series of letters between Barbara and her cousin and best friend Maria who lived back in Brandenburg. On the last page of the book the author ‘fesses up. The letters don’t exist, mainly because Cousin Maria didn’t exist nor did several other of the prominent characters in the story. Ferranti writes, “Barbara of Brandenburg did exist. What was her life like? I do not know.” This revelation was certainly a surprise to me, but I wasn’t at all disappointed. This bit of docu-fiction was a well-researched panorama of Fifteenth Century Italian courtly life with a view of the art, politics, science, architecture, and social life. Marie Ferranti is a recipient of France’s prestigious Grand Prix du Roman.

[Insidebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is not until the novella is complete and the full scale of the author's literary invention hits you that you really start to appreciate what you have just read.

In a nutshell this story charts the life of Barbara von Brandenburg who levaes her home at the age of ten and heads off to marry an Italian Prince of Mantua, Ludovico Gonzaga. No sooner has she arrived and got married than her husband runs away and spends years fighting and making a name for himself leaving his bride alone to grow from a girl into a woman.

Once he returns they start to get cracking on producing ten children and in having a major influence on 15th century Italian life. In the principality run by her husband Barbara manages to tempt some of the great artists to produce works of wonder that are designed to cement their standing in society and immortalise the family.

Her picture shows an ugly dour looking woman who by the time it was painted was perhaps racked by loss and grief of her husband, the health of her children and the detoriation in relationships with her best friend and cousin Maria.

Told using the information contained in the letters between the cousins this story sketches out a behind the scenes tale of life at the top end of the scale in the 15th century.

The story itself is interesting enough and the relationships between Barbara and her daughter, who she seems to hate to the point of cruelty, and with her sons is intriguing enough. But it is on finding out that the letters never existed. The cousin Maria a work of fiction and the author's knowledge of the real Barbara of Brandenburg is not that great that you realise just how much imagination has been at play here.

It's perhaps a comment on the way that some of these historical biographies are put together that even one completely made up can be as engaging, if not more enjoyable a read, than its non-fiction contemporaries.

[Carmen8094 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sono perplessa riguardo a questo libro.
Esso narra la storia di Barbara di Brandeburgo, data in sposa a Ludovico Gonzaga a soli nove anni e cresciuta alla corte di Mantova.
Continui sono i riferimenti a vari documenti, e soprattutto alla corrispondenza tra Barbara e una cugina, Maria di Hohenzollern, vero filo conduttore di tutta la vicenda, che si fa sempre più avvincente e termina con la morte di Barbara.
Si arriva così alla fine convinti di aver letto un bel libro -o libriccino, in questo caso- storico, certo con qualche elemento di fantasia, dovuto alla scarsità di informazioni.
E invece, cosa leggiamo nella Postfazione? Che Maria di Hohenzollern non è mai esistita, le lettere non sono mai state scritte, tutti i documenti sono pura invenzione.
L'autrice ha semplicemente visto Barbara di Brandeburgo dipinta dal Mantegna ed ha immaginato la sua storia.
"Questo è solo un gioco", ci svela. D'accordo, ma forse sarebbe stato più corretto dircelo prima.

http://iltesorodicarta.blogspot.it/

[S. Amour · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lush, atmospheric novel that sweeps you into Renaissance Italy with all its intrigue, artistry, and courtly drama. Ferrante paints Mantua so vividly that the palaces, music, and political machinations feel alive on the page. The story of Barbara of Brandenburg unfolds with elegance and suspense, balancing historical detail with emotional depth. A transporting read for lovers of European history and strong, complex women at the center of it.

[Neophrem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Giudichiamo pure un libro dalla copertina, o meglio, giudichiamo una persona dal suo ritratto.
Nessuna fonte storica, nessun approfondimento: l'autrice ha visto un dipinto e ci ha imbastito un raccontino interessante (volendo) ma privo di qualunque mordente. Il riassunto di se stesso.
E questa roba ha vinto anche dei premi?

[Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a novel that appears to be historical narrative based on found documents. Although it is actually totally fiction. Some of the characters are real but the situations are all made up. Interesting read. It provides a great background for a visit to Mantua, Italy.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written. I did know, having read the back page first, that the voice was fictional so wasn't too disappointed. What a miserable cow, though. Interesting insight into the Gonzagas and Mantegna.

[Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book a second time. Needed to confirm some facts. I had to admit it was a lot better the second time. Don't know if I read it too fast the first time or I was reading without looking, it almost felt like I had never read it before... Its totally fiction, but it was great fiction.

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, this was another attempt to expand my horizons. You know foreign author, prize winner--the Grand Prix de Roman--but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was about. I just read it in 2006.

[Zanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is hard for me not to condemn Ferranti's method as self-indulgent, and I can't understand why she makes her protagonist so unpleasant

[Mollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was just okay. It was a little dry in parts, and I just felt like something was missing.