The Marriage Portrait Quotes
"The certainty that he means her to die is like a presence beside her, as if a dark-feathered bird of prey has alighted on the arm of her chair."
"Astonishment yanks her up out of her body and she almost laughs; she is hovering by the vaulted ceiling, looking down at herself and him."
"The ride here from court was dull, through fields stark and frozen, the sky so heavy it seemed to droop, exhausted, on the tops of bare trees."
"She wishes she had streaked by him, cackling with transgressive glee, her hair and cloak lashing out behind her, hoofs flinging mud."
"Would he be surprised, wrongfooted? Does he think of her as his innocent, unworldly wife, barely out of the nursery?"
"The knife in a dark corridor? His hands about her throat? A tumble from a horse made to look like an accident?"
"She sets down her cup; she lifts her chin; she turns her eyes onto her husband, Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, and wonders what will happen next."
"She can look at the scratch marks on this map and can, unlike most women, translate them into fields full of grain, terraces of vines, crops, farms, convents, levy-paying tenants."
"Her mind is unsettled, untamed, wandering at will. She is looking at maps, at landscapes, at wildernesses."
"Eleonora’s mind, here in the map room, is unsettled, untamed, wandering at will. She is looking at maps, at landscapes, at wildernesses."
"It severed the night with its mournful pitch—once, twice—before dying away in a hoarse rumble."
"Lucrezia sat up in bed, as abruptly as if she had been stuck with a needle. What was that noise, the unfamiliar cry that had reached down into her dream and shaken her awake?"
"The tigress didn’t so much pace as pour herself, as if her very essence was molten, simmering, like the ooze from a volcano."
"The air in the dining hall is as frigid as iron. It has been an unusually chill winter, which yet shows no sign of ending."
"He tells her about a hunting trip here with his father, when he was young—"perhaps eight or nine"—and he came across a wild boar in a clearing."
"But Cosimo did not listen. He took the road to Livorno and met Eleonora halfway, to bear her, like a prize, back to Florence."
"Lucrezia laughed, up there on the tower, at the accuracy of this impression, at the unexpectedness of a revered man making such a face."
"His arms are about her waist; his legs support her; she rests her fingers on the back of his collar."
"She has let her imagination get away from her. Yet again she has let it lead her astray."
"His hands are brushing the fabric of her sleeves. Then, all at once, he pulls away."
"How was it possible for someone to be there one day and gone the next?"
"She was just moving the brush’s wetted tip back and forth in the dab of blue paint."
"But she could not. She must pick up her paintbrush and rinse the traces of ultramarine from its cat-fur bristles."
"He was staring at her now with an expression of puzzlement."
"Lucrezia placed the letter on the table. She stretched out and ran a tentative finger along the creature’s painted spine."
"It is enough to knock her off her feet so she is glad, in a way, that Vitelli still has her by the arm."
"The wedding gown waits; she can sense it behind her, biding its time, its empty shape poised to encase her body."
"She can see only parts of him: now his brow, now his cheek, the whorl of his ear."
"The carriage is high, and precarious-seeming; the glare and noise of the piazza feel close but not overwhelming."
"Eleonora looks down, surprised, then up at Lucrezia."
"I knew he admired me. I knew, in that moment, how things would be."
"Her mother loves the boys best, that nothing can replace them in her eyes."
"The telling of Emilia not to come, forbidding her to follow Lucrezia. What does it all signify for her?"
"Death has come for her. It is knocking at her door; it is sliding its fingers through the keyhole."
"The night sky was a black bowl upturned over her head."
"She sleeps as the dawn birds unfold their wings."
"She sleeps off the long preparation for her wedding, the hair combing, the dress on the bed."
"The heat of the day is rising around them. Her shadow at her feet is foreshortened, a folded-up version of her."
"That single syllable is a balm to her disordered mind, to her aching and empty body."
"She thinks: His mother, my feet, my slippers, a messenger, a curse."
"The idea that she had once perceived the male organ as shy or afraid seems so distant, so misplaced."
"Better then, she decides, to let her arms fall aside, apart, out of the way."
"It tastes, she said, of the sun. It’s like eating sunshine."
"Bed: once a place for sleep, or for staying awake to listen to the breathing of her siblings, to the nocturnal noises of the palazzo. And now another person may pull back the covers and enter it, and do—this."
"The wind filters through a gap in the window. She can feel its cool, whispering caress on her cheek, like an invitation or a suggestion."
"She discovers that if she turns her head to the side, it is easier to breathe."
"And with that breath comes a sensation like the weft and warp of fabric separating in two, and some part of her, the best part perhaps, answers the wind’s call."
"Where the two people are stretched out on the bed, the form of one obscuring the other, is far below. That is a place of shadow and darkness."
"She passes through the walls, disintegrating and dissolving into plasterwork, beams, struts, wattle, brick, and then she coalesces again, in the air on the other side."
"Lucrezia is vigilant. Lucrezia is herself. Lucrezia can choose her own tempo, can increase it, can slow it down."
"I must get up," Lucrezia says, and begins to push back the covers."
"What to do? She poses this question to herself in a tranquil cadence, as if it is of no more significance than what she should wear that day or whom she should invite to a gathering."
"I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing. I just came upon him here, lying on the floor, and I was so frightened."
"How incredible! You did exactly the right thing."
"The way silk catches the light, the way the color of fabric alters if near candlelight."
"I had no idea that the work was shared like that."
"Her husband keeping her under lock and key, is he?"
"Her rooms are draped in deepest pink, like the interior of a soft fruit."
"These blooms are so good for brightening the skin."
"Remember that any alliance at court is always about power and influence."
"You are not to shut yourself up in here all day."
"She sees all this but does not admit it, to herself, or anyone else."
"Her voice is like water tossed on to a fire: the joy, the spark goes out of them all."
"Lucrezia tries to picture Elisabetta in her parents’ palazzo."
"He has brought this court under his control in so short a space of time, but at what cost?"
"How can all this be taking place without her? It makes no sense."
"She cannot fathom that the onset of a winter in Florence is happening in her absence."
"It is the perfect disguise. What liberty she gains by casting off her identity."
"She is one of them; she is not one of these people, who maim and fight, banish and imprison each other."
"She must have sky above her head; she must have wind tugging at her hair."
"The sound of the dialect, Sofia’s dialect, makes her want to weep."
"Yes," she manages to say, "but there is nothing to be done."
"There is very little time," he murmurs, "they will be back in a moment."
"So that you may open it," he says quickly. "I will be there waiting for you, in the trees, as soon as it is dark."
"The feel of his fingertips...against her skin produces a sensation the likes of which she has never felt before."
"It is contact that removes obstacles, sweeps them away, hurls them into the air."
"She opens her mouth to speak... but also to say, if only I could, if only that were even slightly possible."
"You cannot stay here," he whispers. "You know that. You must leave, as soon as you can. Make sure you come."
"Her monthly bleeding arrives, on the expected day. Alfonso does not visit for over a week."
"No longer does he remove his clothes as he crosses the room or pull back the bedclothes to look down upon her."