“Historical Note. IN 1560, fifteen-year-old Lucrezia do Cosimo de’Medici left Florence to begin her married life with Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. Less than a year later, she would be dead. The official cause of her death was given as “putrid fever,” but it was rumored that she had been murdered by her husband.”
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and that’s the historical note that begins Maggie O’Farrell’s novel The Marriage Portrait. Lucrezia, the third daughter of the grand Duke of Florence is different than her siblings. She’s perfectly happy spending her time painting, until her older sister dies on the eve of her marriage and Lucrezia is offered up in her sister’s place.
At fifteen she marries Alfonso, the new Duke of Ferrara, thirteen years her senior and completely unknown to Lucretia. Her first few months with Alfonso at his villa are better than she expected, offering her more freedom then when her mother ruled her days...freedom to wander the grounds and freedom to paint.
But then they travel to the castello in Ferrara. Here she becomes acquainted with Alfonso’s sisters: Elisabetta and Nunciata. Elisabetta befriends Lucrezia adding color to her days until Elisabetta leaves with a warning to be wary of her brother. Lucrezia fears that Alfonso will kill her if she does not produce an heir. During this first year of their marriage, she is required to sit for her portrait.
As the book jacket says: “O’Farrell brings the world of Renaissance Italy to jewel-bright life and offers an unforgettable portrait of a resilient young woman’s battle for her very survival.”
If you’re interested in 16th century Renaissance life, then you must read The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell.
