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The person behind the portrait

Started by DonaCatalina, September 23, 2010, 05:21:33 AM

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Yawehtah

The Four Georges and their relationship to the Bighton Pavillion:

A Prussian Palace do you think fit for German Princes? (George I-IV) er, I mean King's of England.




GEORGE I of Great Britain, France, and Defender of the Faith

Upon the death of Queen Anne in 1714,  when the crown of Great Britain passed over fifty closer aspirants (All Catholic), to the sole Protestant, the  Elector of Hanover, he was in no great hurry to accept it. This German Princeling, who so reluctantly accepted "the throne of his ancestors" , didn't even speak the English language.


George II


Like his father George I, his first languages were German and French, but unlike George I, he was also very fluent in English (although he spoke with a heavy German accent), as well as Latin, Dutch, and Spanish. As king, he was discontent with Parliament's great control of government which gravitated him more and more over the years back to his beloved homeland of Hanover, where as Elector, he reigned supreme.



George III

Born 4 June 1738, George was the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. Upon his father's premature death in 1751, he became heir to the throne, succeeding his grandfather, George II, in 1760. Although best remembered for losing the American colonies and his later bouts of madness, he was, setting aside these periods of illness, the best ruler of the four Georges.



George IV

Yawehtah " Hath the Way "

Monsignor de Beaumanoir

The life of the Crusader Rex:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_England
http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_2.htm

Images of the Lionheart:






Good references:

Richard the Lionheart; The Mighty Crusader by D. Miller

Dungeon, Fire, and Sword, The Knights Templar in the Crusades by Robinson (Shows Richard as a Soldier's King)

Richard the Lionheart  by J. Gillingham (does a lot to dispel the myth of homosexuality)

Lady Rebecca

I assume the second portrait of Richard is a modern one, right?

Monsignor de Beaumanoir

Yes, from the cover a board game known as Crusader Rex. Its focus being on the Third Crusade.

Don_Juan_deCordoba

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, 2nd husband of Mary, Queen of Scots


Henry Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany (7 December 1545 – 10 February 1567), commonly known as Lord Darnley, was a Prince Consort of Scotland, the first cousin and second husband of Mary I, Queen of Scots, and the father of her son King James VI, who also succeeded Queen Elizabeth I as King James I of England. Mary was not prepared for Scotland and took little action as queen there. Her biggest mistake was to marry Charles Darnley, a Catholic noble from England. The marriage was a disaster from the start. Darnley was a power hungry drunk who alienated much of Mary's court and they soon separated.
In Mary's defense, her cousin Elizabeth hinted strongly that if Mary tried to marry one of the continental nobles, England would be mobilized for war against Scotland. Henry was unpopular with the other nobles and had a mean and violent streak, aggravated by a drinking problem. By many accounts Henry Stuart was the worse for drink sometimes for entire days. There was also some evidence that he suffered from syphilis, which would account for his erratic and violent outbursts. On 10 February 1567, the bodies of Henry and his servant at the time were discovered in the orchard of Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh, where they had been staying. Henry was dressed only in his nightshirt, suggesting he had fled in some haste from his bedchamber. A violent explosion had occurred that night at the house, but the evidence pointed to Henry escaping assassination, only to be murdered when he got outside. There was strong evidence that Henry and his valet had been strangled and that the explosion was set as an attempt to cover up the murders.



Marques de Trives

Anna Iram

James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell

There's alot that can be said about this fellow. He's said to have been instrumental in the assasination of Henry Stuart. Kind of hard to like this fellow. Read more in his Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hepburn,_4th_Earl_of_Bothwell





DonaCatalina

Apparently quite a few women fell for this dashing scoundrel. He weathered several charges of adultery before his marriage to the queen.
Sir William Drury, who reported to London,  noted that although it looked as if Mary had been forced into the marriage by Bothwell, things were not as they appeared. There was evidence that Mary had shown an interest in Bothwell in October 1566 when she travelled four hours by horseback to visit him at Hermitage Castle when he was ill. It was all very suspicious.
Read more: http://www.elizabethfiles.com/the-murder-of-lord-darnley/3559/#ixzz135ypWYsk
Aurum peccamenes multifariam texit
Marquesa de Trives
Portrait Goddess

operafantomet




Isabella de' Medici (1542 - 1576) was the nesteldest daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici and Eleonora di Toledo.

She was born right after her half sister Bianca (Bia) died, and is said to have been of great comfort to her father. She also acted as first lady of Florence after her mother died and before her father married for the second time. She seems to be the one who most constantly adopted her mothers love for pearl earrings, and as mentioned she also took her mother's place as first lady, and filled the role well. She was considered a beauty, she was musically gifted, she was versed in Homer and Virgil, and her home attracted artists and intellectuals. She also took care of the upbringing of young Medici offsprings, like her younger brother Pietro.

Isabella married Roman Paolo Giordano Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, in 1555. She was only 13 years old, but the union was first "consummated" three years later, and it took two more years before they were together on a more permanent basis. And even after this Isabella spent most of her time in the Medici household. I in 1567 it is noted her husband was heading towards Florence to visit her, because she was ill with smallpox - meaning she lived in Florence, and he elsewhere. She was the owner of Poggio Imperiale, one of the many Medici villas in Tuscany, and lived a fairly independent life. She is said to have miscarried several times, and getting her first child in her late 20s. But the fact that she and her husband barely saw eachother might also have something to do with that...

She took great care of her father after he was hit by several strokes in the 1570s, and they appears to have had a close relationship. No wonder, since he by then had lost his wife, four daughters and four sons. Isabella was the only surviving daughter at this point. However, her protective father died in 1574, and some two years later Isabella was murdered by her husband, when she was 34 years old. 

But this was without consequence for him. It was a honour killing, because infidelity was suspected (probably rightfully so), and Orsini acted as a Medici court official both before and after the murder of Isabella. She appears to have suffered from a "damnatio memorae", meaning that her memory was erased by for example removing all portraits of her. However, when her other brother Ferdinando became Grand Duke in 1587, this seems to have been reversed, as Isabella and Ferdinando was close in their lifetime. This might be why her portrait appears in the posthumous miniatures made in 1587, while it is not to be found in the otherwise complete miniature set of all of Cosimo and Eleonora's children from some 15 years earlier.

Her life and death is described in the book "Murder of a Medici Princess" by Caroline P. Murphy. I haven't read it yet, but it's high on my list! There's also an interesting chapter about her in Gabrielle Langdon's "Medici Women".

Many other portraits are also said to be of her; for example the one used at Wikipedia (of which there are several versions). However, these shows a very pointed hairline - and to my eye also rather different facial features. In all certain portraits of her she is depicted with a very high brow with rounded hairline, and she also have particularly dark eyes. I've therefore only added those who are certain attributions. But here is some which might pop up as her as well:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/firenze3/allori1575-1.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/firenze3/allori1574isdmson.jpg

Welsh Wench



What a woman Hortense Mancini was! She was the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France and yep! Another one of Charles II's main squeezes!

There were five Mancini sisters and two cousins who were  known as the MazarinETTES in Louis XIV's Court. One of the cousins married into the Modena family and became the mother of Mary of Modena who was the wife of James II.
All the women married well.
When she was fifteen, Hortense married  Armand-Charles de la Porte, duc de La Meilleraye and became one of the richest women in Europe. When the Cardinal died, Hortense was left an inheritance including the Palais Mazarin in Paris with a great collection of art.

Armand had some real sexual hang ups and was another one that painted over and chipped away at the anatomy of the art. So..Hortense turned to a female for a lover. His solution was to send both women to a convent! This tactic failed, as the two plagued the nuns with pranks: they added ink to the holy water, flooded the nuns' beds, and headed for freedom up the chimney!

However the managed it, Armand and Hortense had four children. She decided to bail and left her four small children behind. She came under the protection of the Duke of Savoy and established her house as a sort of Algonquin Round Table. But Savoy's widow became a bit perturbed about the affair and kicked Hortense out when Savoy died.

Hortense was in financial straits so set her sights on Charles II. After all, her husband froze her assets.
She traveled to London under the pretext of a visit to her young cousin, Mary of Modena the new wife of Charles II's younger brother, James.  She was dressed as a man; her penchant for cross-dressing is thought to be an outward expression of her bisexuality.

Her plan worked and she scored with Charles. She even got £4,000 pension and replaced Louise de Kerouaille.
HOWEVER.....Hortense ended up in a relationship with the king's daughter Anne, Countess of Sussex.
This culminated in a very public, friendly fencing match in St James Park, with the women clad in nightgowns, after which Anne's husband ordered his wife to the country. There she refused to do anything but lie in bed, repeatedly kissing a miniature of Hortense.

Hortense may have committed suicide, keeping her life dramatic until the very end. Her husband managed to continue the drama after her death; he carted her body around with him on his travels in France, before finally allowing it to be interred by the tomb of her uncle, Cardinal Mazarin.

Well, I would like to think she and Nell Gwyn would have been friends!
Show me your tan lines..and I'll show you mine!

I just want to be Layla.....

Lady Rebecca

I must say, I would love for a movie to be made about all of Charles II's mistresses. I think it would be fascinating, and very entertaining!

Welsh Wench

Seventeen known mistresses and fourteen acknowledged children.
I'll get to all of them yet!

And I think a made-for-TV movie that would run...oh, at least a year!

Show me your tan lines..and I'll show you mine!

I just want to be Layla.....

Anna Iram

#41
It would certainly be a feast for the eye...all those wonderful Restoration frocks.  :) Certainly an interesting story as well, but for me it would depend on the filmakers point of view.

From what I've read Hortense never replaced Louise entirely. She was just the newest trick in the stable. Louise (and Nell) continued to fascinate Charles to his end. As a side note Louise's descendants include Diana, Princess of Wales, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and Sarah, Duchess of York.

Okay, so my contribution today..well a couple really:

Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil (1579–1633)



Forgive me, but I'm short on time so I'll just quote from the Wiki rather than offer up my own words.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Henriette_de_Balzac_d%27Entragues


"Catherine Henriette de Balzac d'Entragues, Marquise de Verneuil (1579–1633) was the favourite mistress of Henry IV of France after Gabrielle d'Estrées died. She was the daughter of Charles Balzac d'Entragues and his wife Marie Touchet, who was formerly the sole mistress of Charles IX of France

Catherine Henriette de Balzac was raised at a time when women often sought to become a mistress to royalty, and her mother Marie had previously been a mistress to Charles IX before her birth. Ambitious, pretty and intriguing, by her late teens she had succeeded in becoming a mistress to Henry IV, and induced him into a promise to marry her following the death of the king's favoured official mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrées. This alleged promise led to bitter scenes of jealousy and arguing at the court when shortly afterwards Henry married Marie de' Medici instead.

Terribly infuriated and feeling betrayed, she carried her spite so far as to be deeply compromised in a conspiracy against the king in 1606, but escaped with only a slight punishment after the plot was foiled, and in 1608 Henry actually took her back into favour again as one of his mistresses. She was later involved in the Spanish intrigues which preceded the death of the King in 1610. Upon the King's death, his wife, Queen Marie de Medici, was named Regent by Parliament, and immediately banished Catherine from the royal court. Little is known of Catherine's life after that."


So back to me and my own thoughts. First, there's a heck of alot of Henry's and Charles between France and England, get's to be a bit tangled.  :D Second,  The story of Maria de Medici as Regent and Queen of France (standing in for her son Louie XIII until he came of age) is an interesting one. The Medici did have their fingers in all the political pies of the times.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de%27_Medici

"Not long after her crowning she was soon "entirely under the influence of her maid Leonora "Galigaia"and the latter's unscrupulous Italian husband, Concino Concini, who was created Marquis d'Ancre and Marshal of France, despite never having fought a battle. A side note here, Leonora was later tried and judged guilty for practising black nmagic and bewitching the Regent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Dori

They dismissed Henry IV's able minister, the duc de Sully. Through Concini and the Regent, Italian representatives of the Roman Catholic Church hoped to force the suppression of Protestantism in France. Half Habsburg herself, she abandoned the traditional anti-Habsburg French policy. Lending her support to Habsburg Spain, she arranged the marriage of her daughter, Elisabeth to the future Philip IV of Spain."




Under the regent's lax and capricious rule, the princes of the blood and the great nobles of the kingdom revolted, and the queen, too weak to assert her authority, consented (15 May 1614) to buy off the discontented princes. The opposition was led by Henry de Bourbon-Condé, Duc d'Enghien, who pressured Marie into convoking the Estates General (1614–15), the last time they would meet in France until the opening events of the French Revolution."

In 1616 her policy was strengthened by the accession to her councils of Richelieu, who had come to the fore at the meeting of the Estates General. However, in 1617 her son Louis XIII, already several years into his legal majority, asserted his authority. The king overturned the pro-Habsburg, pro-Spanish policy by ordering the assassination of Concini, exiling the Queen to the Château de Blois and appointing Richelieu to his bishopric

After the death of his favourite, the duke of Luynes, Louis turned increasingly for guidance to Richelieu. Marie de Medici's attempts to displace Richelieu ultimately led to her attempted coup; for a single day, the Day of the Dupes, in November 1630, she seemed to have succeeded; but the triumph of Richelieu was followed by her exile to Compiègne in 1630, from where she escaped to Brussels in 1631 and Amsterdam in 1638.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dupes


Honoré de Balzac encapsulated the Romantic generation's negative view:

"Marie de' Medici, all of whose actions were prejudicial to France, has escaped the shame which ought to cover her name. Marie de' Medici wasted the wealth amassed by Henry IV; she never purged herself of the charge of having known of the king's assassination; her intimate was d'Épernon, who did not ward off Ravaillac's blow, and who was proved to have known the murderer personally for a long time. Marie's conduct was such that she forced her son to banish her from France, where she was encouraging her other son, Gaston, to rebel; and the victory Richelieu at last won over her (on the Day of the Dupes) was due solely to the discovery the cardinal made, and imparted to Louis XIII, of secret documents relating to the death of Henry IV." – Essay Catherine de Medicis






Welsh Wench

Louise was a weepy mess.

A pension of £4,000 is not bad for Hortense's  romp with Old Rowley.
Other sources differ in the replacement value. It depends on what you read.

http://books.google.com/books?id=sdL2dVF8hywC&pg=PA194&lpg=PA194&dq=did#v=onepage&q=did&f=false
Show me your tan lines..and I'll show you mine!

I just want to be Layla.....

DonaCatalina

#43
Anne Stanhope (c. 1497 – 16 April 1587) was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of his nephew King Edward VI. After Henry VIII's death, Edward Seymour acted as King in all but name. With this power, Anne considered herself the first lady of the realm, claiming precedence over Katharine Parr, Henry VIII's widow, following the latter's marriage to Anne's brother-in-law, Thomas Seymour.
Sir John Hayward wrote that:
The Duke had taken to wife Anne Stanhope a woman for many
imperfections intolerable, but for pride monstrous.... She was
exceeding both subtle and violent in accomplishing her ends, for
which she spurred over all respects both of conscience and of
shame. This woman did bear such invincible hate, first against the
Queen Dowager for light causes and woman's quarrels, especially
for that she had precedence of place before her.... That albeit the
Queen Dowager died by childbirth, yet would not her malice
either die or decrease.
Aurum peccamenes multifariam texit
Marquesa de Trives
Portrait Goddess

Anna Iram

#44
She called herself Lady of the Realm!!!?? Hey! That's MY title you witch!! * Anna reaches back 500 years and beyotch slaps Anne, pulling her hair and stepping on her train for good measure.*

Sadly I think she really did mean to stand above the other ladies of the court. My title was merely meant as a cast of character sort of thing. A lady, not The lady. I heard this stirred up quite the passions around here!

It is kind of funny what witches woman can be toward one another. I can't copy paste the link right now as I'm on my phone and haven't figured out how, but I was reading about Anne after your post, Dona and she really does seem to be power hungry. I laughed when I read of her on Tudor place. Com of refusing to carry Catherine's train and pushing her out of the way during their entances and exits at court. She was quoted as saying she was teaching her manners while Catherine is said to have callled her "That Hell". Lol