Though it’s a sequel to a longer story (‘An Obscure Man’), ‘A Lovely Morning’ stands on its own as a beautiful piece of work. A young boy named Lazarus, the son of a Dutch adventurer, is raised by an Amsterdam brothel-keeper but escapes to join a group of touring actors and dreams of his unfolding future life. The late-Renaissance setting is brought so compellingly and believably to life that it makes the real world around you pale in comparison. Both ‘An Obscure Man’ and ‘A Lovely Morning’ attempt to render the universe of Rembrandt’s paintings in prose, something you’d have to be incredibly ambitious to attempt and incredibly talented to achieve, but Yourcenar is more than up to the challenge.
First English publication in Two Lives and a Dream, Aiden Ellis, 1987
A Personal Anthology 