Maggie O’Farrell’s latest novel, The Marriage Portrait, is
even better than Hamnet and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, both of which I
thought were terrific. Unlike other novels that purport to be the backstory of
a famous work of art (e.g., The Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Lady and the
Unicorn), this is the backstory of a portrait that probably existed but that
hasn’t survived, which makes it even more intriguing.
This is the story of Lucrezia di Medici, a middle child and
third daughter of Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Florence, and teenage bride of Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara. She died early in the marriage, perhaps from disease,
perhaps murdered by her husband who was desperate for an heir and unwilling to
wait long for Lucrezia to conceive.
I absolutely loved the character that O’Farrell bestowed on
this unsung female who for centuries has been little more than a footnote of
Florentine history. She was an artist, fascinated and attuned to the natural
world, particularly animals. She was strong, energetic, and intelligent—had the
Florentine world not been enslaved by a patriarchal society, she would have
been an ideal successor to her father, much more so than any of her brothers. She was definitely a spiritual sister of the caged tiger she charmed into letting her pet her, and their stories tracked each other until near the end when Lucrezia's veered in a different direction.
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I absolutely adored the ending and was fervently hoping that
the story would resolve as it did, with Lucrezia escaping from the fate history
allotted her and finding a place and role for herself as an anonymous artist of
exquisite tiny paintings of animals, presumably finding love and passion,
purpose and fulfillment outside the trappings and dangers of court and politics
and power.
Usually, I am a stickler for historical accuracy, but in the case of Lucrezia, about whom so little is known, I have no problem with this author creating an alternate reality for her.
I also think that O'Farrell did a great job in her portrait of Alfonso. Our view of him was entirely governed by Lucrezia's, evolving as she matured from the little girl she was when she first met him to the innocent bride whose only role is to bear children to the scared teenager who has learned what he is capable of doing when thwarted.
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Definitely a 5-star novel that I look forward to rereading someday.
