Review: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

This review originally appeared on my personal blog in December 2022.

I have long been fascinated by Renaissance Italy and particularly by the Medici family. Regular readers of this blog may recall my earlier review of John L’Heureux’s The Medici Boy. Thus, I absolutely had to get my hands on Maggie O’ Farrell’s latest novel The Marriage Portrait (Knopf 2022), which is historical fiction inspired by the marriage and possible murder of Lucrezia de’ Medici (1545-1561) at the hands of her husband Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara. This alleged murder also served as the inspiration for Robert Browning’s famous poem “My Last Duchess”.

The novel begins in 1561 during the last days of Lucrezia’s life. Alfonso has brought her to a remote fortress where she suspects that he will poison her. From this point, the narrative flashes back to Florence in 1544 at the time of Lucrezia’s conception. These two timelines alternate throughout the novel, allowing suspense to build about the inevitable murder as well as allowing the reader to see what brought Lucrezia and Alfonso to this point.

Though told from a third person point of view, O’Farrell has chosen to detail only the thoughts and experiences of her protagonist. The reader’s view of other characters is thus filtered through Lucrezia’s perceptions of them. Alfonso, in particular, comes across as a malign presence and the reader must occasionally wonder whether this was truly the case or whether Lucrezia may perhaps be somewhat paranoid. Sticking so closely to one character’s perspective also creates a sense of claustrophobia,contributing to the atmosphere of foreboding.

Two major themes of the novel are the restricted nature of women’s lives and artistic creation. While Lucrezia’s brothers are educated to be rulers, the purpose of her and her sisters’ lives is to make appropriate marriages and to produce heirs for their husbands. Alfonso is first betrothed to Lucrezia’s older sister Maria but when she dies unexpectedly, Lucrezia is offered instead, even though she is barely thirteen. The most important issue is seen to be forming an alliance between Tuscany and Ferrara, rather than the needs and desires of an adolescent girl. This theme is further highlighted through the stories of Alfonso’s sisters, who live in fear of their brother’s whims. Finally the major conflict between Lucrezia and her husband is about her failure to produce an heir and this is quite possibly why he allegedly had her killed. Interestingly, Alfonso went on to marry two more times and neither of these three marriages produced any heirs.

Fittingly for a novel entitled The Marriage Portrait, the creation of art is a major theme. Lucrezia is depicted to have great artistic talent and there are many descriptions of her learning to paint in Florence as well as creating art during her marriage. Much of the plot also revolves around the creation of the titular portrait of Lucrezia as Duchess of Ferrara (a portrait that may not actually exist but which served as Browning’s inspiration).

Overall, The Marriage Portrait is a fascinating portrayal of a member of one of history’s most famous families. O’Farrell has taken inspiration from Lucrezia’s short life and alleged murder to create a compelling narrative that has insights about the restrictions of women’s lives and of the nature of artistic creation. I particularly recommend it to those who are interested in Renaissance Italy and to fans of historical fiction more generally.