The Marriage Portrait
Fiction
Knopf
September 6, 2022
Hardcover
355
Purchased
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. 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, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble? As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up 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.
My review:
She got me again!! I went into this novel almost completely blind save for the fact that I loved Hamnet, her previous novel. I am not one to enjoy novels set before the 20th century, that is until Maggie O'Farrell came along. The novel starts with a historical note:
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.
Wait.....WHAT? The novel follows Lucrezia, a spitfire of a girl who loves nothing more than painting and is not thrilled with the idea of having to take her sister's place in marriage. You can't help but fall in love with Lucrezia, while at the same time dread her fate. The writing is absolutely exquisite (as was the case with Hamnet), and I loved the glimpses we get into the arduous task of creating those Renaissance paintings we revere. We get to see it not only from how the artists create the work, but the hours of sitting for the portrait. After reading this book, you will understand why the women are never smiling in most of those paintings, ugh...what a life they had! You will root for Lucrezia, who surmises her fate and tries to figure a way out. The ending is superb, no more can be said (if you know, you know).
I highly recommend this historical fiction, and coming from someone who is fairly picky about this genre, that's high praise. It's almost like a historical thriller as we draw near to Lucrezia's fate!
I read "Lessons in Chemistry", based solely on your recommendation, and LOVED it! I will give this one a read as well!
This one is very different in scope, but the writing is just so lovely that I almost didn't care what the story was about! I hope you like it, thanks for reading my blog!