Marbot: A Biography: Analysis of Major Characters

Author: Wolfgang Hildesheimer

First published: Marbot: Eine Biographie, 1981 (English translation, 1983)

Genre: Novel

Locale: England, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy

Plot: Historical realism

Time: 1801–1830

Sir Andrew Marbot, a reserved and independent British aristocrat, aesthete, and art theorist. Despite extensive, seemingly authentic documentation from sources credited to a great number of European artists, writers, and thinkers at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Marbot is a fictitious character. A portrait, painted by Eugene Delacroix in 1827 and included in the novel, shows Marbot as a twenty-six-year-old attractive young man. His controlled posture and the skeptical expression around his mouth seem intended to make him appear distant and determined. His bushy, barely tamed black hair and his large, expressive eyes with slightly drooping lids give him a touch of melancholy. The full lips and the weak chin seem to suggest a strong sensuality. His biographer describes him as an inconspicuous and very private person. He was born in 1801 as the oldest of three children and grew up on his parents' estate, Marbot Hall, in the north of Northumberland, England. Because there was considerable wealth in the family, Andrew lived without financial worries and never trained for a specific profession. There is evidence that he would have liked to be a painter but lacked the “gift of creation.” He could have chosen the life of an eccentric like Lord Byron but has a distaste for public display and makes efforts to remain within the confines of convention. He is, however, by no means a conform-ist. In his work as well as in his life, he is fiercely independent, and it is his independence in judgment that earns for him a place in the history of art criticism. It is also this radical independence, together with a coolness of composure, that leads to his undramatic suicide. Beyond this seemingly cool and detached attitude, however, is an unplumbed depth of feeling, conviction, and passion. His suicide, which he views as the only logical solution to “a future full of necessary repetition,” demonstrates the radical determination of which he is capable. This determination is juxtaposed to his incestuous relationship with his mother. He manages to sever the relationship after several years, has two brief love affairs, and lives with Anna Maria Baiardi, but he is never able to forget; his lifelong occupation with art has to be understood as a sublimation of his forbidden drives. This Oedipal relationship, together with a natural insight into people, enables Marbot to analyze paintings from a psychological viewpoint anticipating twentieth century aesthetics.

The narrator-biographer, an unnamed art historian and dedicated scholar devoted to securing a place for Marbot in the history of art criticism. The fact that the novel is presented as a real biography attributes a special importance to the narrator-biographer. Because academic convention requires that all available sources, documents, and dates speak for themselves, the biographer remains anonymous. Because the biographer is at the same time the creator of the fictitious biography, however, he might be construed as the main character. He has invented the main character as well as his life story and has selected the sources. In addition, he analyzes, translates, and sets the tone. He is a knowledgeable, sympathetic, open-minded, devoted, and partial interpreter of his main character.

Lady Catherine, Marbot's mother. She was born in 1781 as the only child of Lord and Lady Claverton and married Sir Francis Marbot in 1799. She had three children and lost her husband after twenty-one years of marriage as a result of a hunting accident. She is a deeply religious person who suffered extremely in her incestuous relationship with her oldest son. After her separation from Andrew, she confesses her sin to Father van Rossum and dies of a broken heart in 1832, two years after the death of her son.

Father Gerard van Rossum, a Dutch Jesuit and Marbot's tutor. He was born in 1766 and served first the Clavertons and then the Marbots as family chaplain and tutor. He is an enlightened and tolerant educator to Andrew and an understanding and compassionate spiritual guide to Lady Catherine. Despite his knowledge of the incestuous relationship, he continues the correspondence with his former pupil. After Andrew's death, he collects, edits, and publishes his notes and letters and by doing so preserves Marbot's work for future generations.