A Medici princess rebels against her gilded cage
Seeking agency over her life, a Medici bride plots to escape a loveless, and possibly lethal, union in 鈥淭he Marriage Portrait鈥� by Maggie O鈥橣arrell.
"The Marriage Portrait," by Maggie O'Farrell, Knopf, 253 pp.
Robert Browning鈥檚 oft-recited 1842 poem 鈥淢y Last Duchess鈥� begins, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 my last Duchess painted on the wall, / Looking as if she were alive.鈥� Irish-born writer Maggie O鈥橣arrell brings that young woman back to pulsating life in her captivating new historical novel, 鈥淭he Marriage Portrait.鈥�
Browning鈥檚 speaker, believed to be based on Alfonso II d鈥橢ste, Duke of Ferrara, paints a chilling picture of the dynamics of his relationship with his 16-year-old first wife, Lucrezia di Cosimo de鈥橫edici. She died under mysterious circumstances in 1561, less than a year into their marriage. In the midst of arranging a new betrothal, the duke in Browning鈥檚 poem hints at the cause of Lucrezia鈥檚 demise with his declaration of invincibility: 鈥淚 choose / Never to stoop.鈥澛� 聽 聽聽
This sinister situation forms the kernel of O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 tale of nefarious scheming, set in a society in which 鈥渉igh-born鈥� girls were raised to unite dynasties in marriage and accede to the will of their fathers and husbands. Out of this, she has crafted a heart-pounding, atmospheric account of a powerless young woman鈥檚 cunning in the face of subjection and tyranny. 鈥淪ome vital part of her will not bend, will never yield,鈥� O鈥橣arrell writes.聽聽
Lucrezia joins a long line of strong, non-conformist women who populate O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 intricately plotted, lyrically written novels 鈥� and her 2017 memoir, 鈥淚 Am, I Am, I Am,鈥� about her own harrowing encounters. Her forte has long been what she dubs here 鈥渁 presence malign and predatory,鈥� but the darkness is alleviated by her affinity for heroines who rise above even the most trying circumstances.
Like her 2020 novel, 鈥淗amnet,鈥� O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 heartbreaking drama about how the loss of their 11-year-old son to the bubonic plague in 1596 affected Shakespeare, his wife, and literary history, 鈥淭he Marriage Plot鈥� is an emotionally intense read, lushly draped in atmospheric details. Both novels expand upon scant factual records, and both zigzag back and forth through time as they build inexorably towards an untimely death.聽
But where 鈥淗amnet鈥� captured the relentless daily toil of running a household in Elizabethan England and the wages of grief on a marriage, 鈥淭he Marriage Portrait鈥� immerses us in the lavish yet stultifying 16th-century court life of Florence and Ferrara, in which girls were groomed for a less menial sort of subservience.聽聽
Lucrezia, the spirited young Renaissance duchess at the heart of O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 ninth novel, is a challenging child from birth 鈥� strong-willed, curious, artistically gifted, pushing boundaries in the fortress-like castellos that are 鈥渆difice[s] of power鈥� and 鈥渁s oppressive as a prison.鈥� As a girl, she sneaks into the subterranean labyrinth of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence to catch a glimpse of her father鈥檚 exotic menagerie, including a beautiful striped tigress. Young Lucrezia identifies with the caged feline, who, she observes, 鈥淐arried on her body the barred marks of a prison, as if she had been branded for exactly this, as if captivity had been her destiny all along.鈥澛�
O鈥橣arrell writes with a dramatic fervor that can border on the overwrought 鈥� but it grows on you as it feeds a mounting sense of dread. She evokes the suffocating anxiety of Lucrezia鈥檚 wedding day, encased in 鈥渁 fortress of silk,鈥� and offers a minutely observed description of her first fraught night with Alfonso. Over time, Lucrezia becomes adept at 鈥渦nhitching herself from what is happening in this room, allowing her mind to roam. She becomes other and elsewhere 鈥� leaving just her skin and bone behind, in her stead.鈥澛犅�
Alfonso, initially courteous if uncaring, morphs into a cold-blooded monster frustrated by her essential un-biddability and his inability to secure his sovereignty with an heir, a failing he wrongly blames on his wife. Lucrezia cleverly does her best to stay one step ahead of him and his brutal adviser and henchman, Leonello Baldassare. Without giving away too much of O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 deft plot twists, I can say that key to Lucrezia鈥檚 character 鈥� and her efforts at survival 鈥� are her close attachments to, and lessons gleaned from, the down-to-earth Neapolitan servants who raised her, including her nanny, wet-nurse, and personal maid.聽 聽
Although the titular marriage portrait commissioned by Alfonso is a product of O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 rich imagination, it is a radiant presence at the center of this book. It also underscores the idea that hidden depths lie beneath the surface of much that meets the eye, and that beauty and human connections can be found in unexpected places. Lucrezia, an avid painter, is particularly fond of creating layered works of art in which images of herself are concealed in underpaintings.
When the commissioned portrait is unveiled,聽Lucrezia is shocked at how the painter has 鈥渆xcavate[d] that which she keeps hidden inside her鈥� 鈥� including her look of 鈥渇rankness close to defiance鈥� 鈥� beneath the jewels and richly embroidered gown that mark her status. The portrait, she realizes, is 鈥渁t once scaldingly public and deeply private,鈥� down to the fact that, in lieu of the languid hands common to most formal portraits, she is shown clutching a paintbrush, 鈥渁 hand with a purpose, a hand filled with intent.鈥澛犅�
鈥淭he Marriage Portrait鈥� is similarly filled with intent. O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 latest masterpiece presents a sumptuous portrait of a woman鈥檚 purposeful determination to break the bars of her gilded cage.聽