How to Be Both

Francescho, a fictionalized version of the real Early Renaissance artist, is one of the novel’s two protagonists. Francesco del Cossa’s work features prominently in Part 1, and Part 2 is written from the first-person perspective of the character Francescho. In Part 2, Francescho is a disembodied spirit in a state of “purgatorium” that ties him to modern-day English schoolgirl George. His observation of George is intermingled with reminiscences of his life in 15th-century Italy as he slowly regains his memories.

Francescho was born female, but early in his life he chose to present himself as male to pursue life as an artist and access education and employment opportunities that would be denied to him as a woman. He is sexually attracted to both men and women, taking lovers of both genders though never pursuing a committed or monogamous relationship. His gender identity and sexuality are never discussed in terms of modern labels, but he inhabits a shifting terrain of gender and sexuality that highlights the theme of Ambiguity as an Inescapable Feature of Life. Francescho lives outside of many of the social norms of his day, due as much to his vocation as an artist as any other aspect of his identity. Indeed, art is fundamental to Francescho’s characterization; his narrative voice focuses on detailed and evocative visual descriptions, and many of his memories revolve around his various artworks.

Francescho doesn’t have a close relationship with any of his brothers, all of whom are jealous of his advantages in life and his freedom from manual labor. In his youth, Francescho anticipates and accepts their resentment and cruelty without comment or rebuke, even as they habitually destroy his makeshift studio each night. He has a good relationship with his parents until their deaths. He recalls both fondly and with respect, remaining influenced by his mother’s stories and his father’s words of wisdom throughout his life. The loss of his mother while he was still very young affected Francescho badly, just as his father’s death hurt him sorely as an adult. In both instances, he expressed his grief by clinging to physical mementos of his parents; wearing his mother’s oversized dresses, and keeping coins lent by his father until his own death.

Although Francescho came from a solidly working-class family of brickmakers, he is close with people from all walks of life; the scholar Falcon, Ercole the pickpocket, sex workers such as Isotta, and his best friend, the nobleman Bartolommeo “Barto” Garganelli. Francescho is caring and generous in these relationships, his often snarky or biting words undermined by his clear fondness for those around him. He captures these people in his art, appreciating their unique beauty free from many of the common prejudices of his day. Barto and Francescho love each other dearly, both as friends and romantically, although they can never speak of or satisfy their romantic feelings for each other due to their respective social positions and Francescho’s masculine presentation.

Francescho is aware of his own faults, easily admitting to pride and even vanity in his work. He can be quick to anger, as shown by his reaction to Ercole’s report on the fresco, but he is also willing to forgive. Although in his youth Francescho is naïve and “green,” the hardships and injustices he faces in life leave him “bitter” and more cynical. His commentary on many of his own recollections shows a retrospective world-weariness that he did not have while living through the events he remembers. Francescho suffers keenly from the effects of grief both in his life and in his afterlife. He is deeply uncomfortable with his “purgatorium,” repeatedly reaching out to George despite knowing that he is imperceptible. In comparison to the purgatory of memory, he imagines paradise as a “roofless” state in which one remains connected to the world but without memories. He seems to find some measure of peace by the end of the novel, reaffirming his forgiveness of his rival painter Cosmo, remembering his own death, and then seemingly fading out of consciousness as his memories leave and his prose style breaks down.