Chapters One to Four

When I read the prologue right away the themes of deception, hidden secrets and rebellion were planted into my psyche and I felt it was deliberate. If you had not read the prologue (and many don’t) the reading of the first few chapters (and maybe more since I’ve only read to chap 4 and don’t know when it will become relevant to the storyline) would be a different experience. I think the author is telling us to pay attention.

In chapter one I felt that Alessandra’s interest in the painter was innocent sexuality up to the moment that she mentions ‘her own drawings’, then you can clearly see how and why a relationship will likely grow between them, and probably not sexual.

Does anyone notice the multiple mention of the horror of birth? Normal reality for this time and place obviously, however, is it more than that? Let’s keep in mind the title of the story.

When Alessandra first see’s the young artist’s painting in the chapel she describes it not only in feeling but in technicality as well (understanding the exaggerated length of figure as affected by the candlelight), and this tells me that she has the true eye of an artist, seeing that she has never formally studied (and is only 15).

When I read, “I am used to living in a house of rose and orange flowered scented air. He smelled of the street. I really think until that moment I had believed that artists somehow came directly from God…”, I felt it was a point where she decided (unconsciously) that she could be a painter after all, despite all the cultural obstacles she faced, which don’t really seem to concern her much.

The tone of the first few chapters is light and airy and vibrantly colourful, especially with the description of fabrics and material elements and the description of scents. It is in opposition to the prologue which felt quite heavy, dark and described only unpleasant scents. However, you cannot help but bring the prologue with you when you read the first chapters, your mind flitting to it here and there, wondering if indeed Alessandra is Sister Lucrezia. I liken the sensation to wearing a silk gown with combat boots underneath, a beautiful feeling with something not quite right. Alessandra states, ‘Our house praises virtue publicly but rewards vice privately’, a statement that might later reach to other facets of her life, the convent perhaps? Hmmmm, religion in general?

Lastly, I notice that there is a lot of emphasis on the Annunciation, and I wonder if there is a deliberate connection being made between the virgin and angel in the painting and the virgin and delicate, innocent boy in the chapel (or what he stands for), ‘…being pulled by invisible threads towards and away from each other…’