B.I.T.C.H.
(Babe in Total Control of Herself)
I like how the right part of her cloak looks like an octopus' tentacle.
:-)
It's actually a portrait of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna by Russian painter Aleksey Antropov.
1750s. I like how the right part of her cloak looks like an octopus' arm.
She does look like one tough lady, doesn't she? But there is that little smirk to consider. Wonder what that was about?
ReplyDeleteI've been reading up on her on Wikipedia. She was the daughter of Peter the Great (thus the patronymic, Petrovna) and was, apparently, pretty good at her job. Before she became empress she had a peasant for a lover and susequently made him a prince - wow, some people actually lived in fairy-tales!
ReplyDeleteAnother nice thing about her is that she was famous for her laziness - she often took months to get around to signing documents of state.
As a little girl she posed naked as a model for a portrait of Venus.
She built the Winter Palace (well, not personally, of course - her being indolent and all - but she had it built).
On her accession to the throne, she took an oath that she would not sign a single death sentence and kept it during her 21 year reign.
An interesting lady. B.I.T.C.H. indeed! :-)
You fooled ol' «Louis» there for a moment. He thought this was a portrait of Barney Frank! Then he checked the calendar and realized this isn't an April Fool's joke.
ReplyDeleteM. Scélérat, éditeur à «Louis»: Here you go, in full Maytag (the Agitator) mode again, just like you did here!
I LOVE her
ReplyDeleteher eyes have such sass going on and her slight smile is mysterious and mischevious
and she's a big girl and I like that too, especially since she's clearly so in charge of herself and so comfortable in her own skin
thanks for calling my reflection photos art, coming from someone who knows about art that really means a lot to me
love ya
oh, she's a beauty! xoxox
ReplyDeleteRole Model!
ReplyDeleteAloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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Don't mess with this mama!
ReplyDeleteI'm still wiping tears away from my face after reading Louis La Vache's comment!!! :-D Too funny!
ReplyDeleteFrancis: thanks for the research on Empress Petrovna! Fantastic info to go along with the painting. It really does make things click when you know more about her. The painter certainly captured her well, didn't he?
Everyone: thanks for enjoying a smile with me. I am most grateful to you all for being on the same page with me here!
Love and peace,
Pagan Sphinx
Dianne: it was a well-deserved comment. I can't get over how beautiful those photos are. Frame-worthy for sure!
ReplyDeleteLove, me
Wow, what a lady ... and with character besides! A wonderful choice!
ReplyDelete