A portrait of life — and the hazards of marriage — in Italy in 1550 by Maggie O’Farrell

To be honest, while O’Farrell had me at the title with Hamnet, her fictional imagining of life as Shakespeare’s wife, I wasn’t interested in Lucrezia, a young girl living in Florence in 1550. I only read the story because O’Farrell is a gifted storyteller. I wasn’t much aware of what life might have been like in Italy in this timeframe. I never thought about it. But here I am, enthusiastically writing a glowing review of The Marriage Portrait.

Now that I’ve read it, though, it was a story I wanted to know.

Lucrezia de’ Medici is married off to Alfonso d’Este, the Duke of Ferrara, at age 15. Before her marriage, she is sheltered. She is so sheltered, she has never really left the house she was born in. And she has no idea of the politics of the time, what men get up to, or anything outside the rambling, fascinating, servant-fueled home she grew up in. Though, she has seen a panther, which most people in Italy have not.

O’Farrell captures the mood beautifully. I feel as if I have been to 16th-century Italy, met the nobility, and listened in on the court intrigue. I feel sympathy for anyone required to wear the lavish clothing or live under the burden of the excesses of the aristocracy. I feel even more sympathy for those servants keeping it all running.

It turns out that Lucrezia has married into a problem. Her husband needs an heir. Without one, his family will lose power. And Lucrezia — for all her massive education, astonishing artistic talent, and fantastically expensive accoutrements — is the daughter of a woman legendary for her fecundity. Barely old enough to bleed, it is her job to conceive. Unfortunately, rumor has it that her husband is incapable of this.

It’s a great read, if a bit slow. Get comfortable, enjoy your privacy, and your comfortable clothing. Relax into your freedom to marry whomever you like and bear children if and when you choose. This has not always been available to women — no matter how powerful their parents.

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