Book Review: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O' Farrell

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

“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.