The Marriage Portrait

Synopsis: Lucrezia de’Medici, 3rd daughter and fifth chid of the Duke of Florence lives the life for which she was fated. Specifically, she is a pawn in the dynastic chess board of medieval Italy. Betrothed at 13, and married to the Duke of Ferrara at 15, she fulfills her father’s wish for an alliance between the two city-states. Her death at the age of 16 was ostensibly from tuberculosis, though almost immediately there were rumors she had been poisoned on the orders of her husband. O’Farrell’s novel imagines the life and mysterious death of this young princess.

Review: This novel was inspired by Robert Browning’s poem My Last Duchess, itself inspired by a portrait of Lucrezia. We are aware from the first page that Alfonso intends to murder Lucrezia, and she is aware of it too. The story is told in a series of flashbacks describing her childhood, and the early days of her short marriage, which works very well in building the suspense. O’Farrell succeeds in suffusing the reader with a terrible sense of dread. Alfonso is mercurial—charming and loving one minute, cruel and menacing the next. If you’ve seen Sleeping with the Enemy, you are familiar with the type! You know what is going to happen yet you STILL hope for her to figure out a way to avoid it. I loved O’Farrell’s previous novel Hamnet, which made me eager for this work as well. I liked it, but perhaps not as much. The writing was a little too flowery at times, lots of lush atmospherics that got a little overwhelming. Still, even though I didn’t absolutely love this novel, I did enjoy it and would recommend it to anyone who appreciates historical fiction.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recipe: Osso buco is a northern Italian classic. This recipe from Ina Garten makes enough for a crowd, but be prepared: Veal shanks aren’t a budget item! But if you are the Duke of Ferrara, that’s not a concern.

Ingredients:

8 pieces of veal shank, 2 inches thick, tied

1/12 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 medium celery stalks, medium diced

2 carrots, medium diced

2 leeks, cleaned and medium diced

1 medium yellow onion, medium diced

4 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

5 sprigs fresh thyme, tied together with kitchen string

1 cup dry white wine

3 cups chicken stock

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees

2) Pat veal shanks dry. Combine flour, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoon pepper. toss the veal shanks in the flour and shake off excess.

3) In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over high heat, brown the veal shanks on all sides

4) Wipe out the pot and melt the butter. Add celery, carrots, leeks and onion and sauce over medium heat for 10 minutes, until tender. Add garlic and lemon zest and cook 1 more minute.

5) Add the thyme, wine, chicken stock, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper, scraping the pot to incorporate browned bits. Return the shanks to the pot and bring the liquid to a simmer.

6) Cover the pot tightly and place in the oven for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, until tender. Serve the shanks hot with the sauce. Mashed potatoes are a great way to soak up all the delicious sauce!