Saturday, November 27, 2010

Characters on Canvas

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.

10 comments:

  1. She does look like one tough lady, doesn't she? But there is that little smirk to consider. Wonder what that was about?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'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!

    Another 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! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. 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.

    M. Scélérat, éditeur à «Louis»: Here you go, in full Maytag (the Agitator) mode again, just like you did here!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE her
    her 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

    ReplyDelete
  5. Don't mess with this mama!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm still wiping tears away from my face after reading Louis La Vache's comment!!! :-D Too funny!

    Francis: 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

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dianne: it was a well-deserved comment. I can't get over how beautiful those photos are. Frame-worthy for sure!
    Love, me

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, what a lady ... and with character besides! A wonderful choice!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to say you've been here.

I am sorry to say that I don't publish anonymous comments unless I know you through your initials, first name or blog name. I don't publish comments that have ANY kind of commercial or 'for sale' links.

You are Invited to Scroll Down! :-)

Please feel free to scroll down and look at the followers list, badges, photos and tons and tons of great links!

Search This Blog

In Memory of Bobbie

In Memory of Bobbie
Almost There

ARTLEX Art Dictionary

Kick Homophobia in The Butt: Add Your Name to the List of Supporters

Kick Homophobia in The Butt:  Add Your Name to the List of Supporters
click photo

Northampton Prop 8 Protest

Northampton Prop 8 Protest

It's Only Love

It's Only Love
See More Elopment Pictures here
Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

Million Doors for Peace

Lines and Colors

Lines and Colors
A New Art Resource I Just Discovered!

Emily Dickinson - The Belle of Amherst

Emily Dickinson - The Belle of Amherst
"When the Amherst sphinx styled herself a pagan, she meant she didn’t believe in the biblical God. What sort of deity, if any, she did believe in is hard to pinpoint."
-- Gary Sloan, "Emily Dickinson: Pagan Sphinx,"

National Protest Against Prop 8

National Protest Against Prop 8

My Daughters

My Daughters

Code Pink

"The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
~Martin Luther King Jr.
Love and compassion is the Universal religion. That is my religion.
~ The Dalai Lama

This site is certified 30% EVIL by the Gematriculator

Blog Archive

Fair Use

I believe that the images and writing posted here fall under the "fair use" section of the U.S. copyright law http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107, as they are intended for educational purposes and are not in a medium that is of commercial nature.

Labels

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin