#by mara sop

My Trastamara’s Girl - Part Four

As her mother, Juanna had 4 daughters, all queens!

Eleonor of Austria

Eleanor was the eldest child of Philip of Austria and Juanna of Castile, and was an Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, and subsequently became Queen consort of Portugal as the wife of Manuel I of Portugal (1518–1521) and of France as the wife of Francis I of France (1530–1547). She had only one daughter, Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu. Maria was born on 1521 in Lisbon. In the same year, her father died and her step-brother John III became king. Shortly afterwards, Maria’s mother, the dowager queen Eleanor, returned to her brother’s court in Vienna, taking Maria with her.

In 1530, Eleanor married King Francis I of France and moved to France. Maria would not see her mother for nearly 28 years. Meanwhile, in 1525, Eleanor’s younger sister (Maria’s aunt) Catherine had married Maria’s step-brother John III of Portugal. At some point, Maria moved from Vienna to Lisbon. She was to live in Portugal, at the court of her step-brother and his family, for the rest of her life.

Maria died unmarried and childless.

Eleonor’s portrait was painted by Joos von Cleve when she already was queen of France, in 1530.

Isabella of Austria

Isabella of Austria was an archduchess of Austria and infanta of Castile and Aragon, was Queen of Denmark, Sweden and Norway as the wife of King Christian II, she also served as regent of Denmark in 1520.

Isabella had 2 daughters, Dorothea and Christina.

Dorothea of Denmark and Norway, electress of the Palatinate as the wife of Elector Frederick II of the Palatinate. 

As the eldest surviving child of the abdicated Christian II, Dorothea had a claim to the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish throne. The Habsburg family selected Frederick of the Palatinate to be her consort as they believed that he could successfully claim the Danish throne through marriage. She married Frederick in 1535 in Heidelberg. They had no children.

Christina of Denmark, Duchess-consort of Milan, then Duchess-consort of Lorraine.

She was also the Regent of Lorraine in the years 1545–1552 during the minority of her son and a claimant to the thrones of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

After Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII, died in 1537, Christina was considered as a possible bride for the English king. The German painter Hans Holbein was commissioned to paint portraits of noblewomen eligible to become the English queen.Christina, then only sixteen years old, made no secret of her opposition to marrying the English king, who by this time had a reputation around Europe for his mistreatment of wives. She supposedly said, “If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England’s disposal.”

Isabella’s painting is from c. 1520

My Trastamara’s Girls - Part Three

Isabella of Castille had 4 daughter, the 1st and the 3nd was queen of Portugal, but her most famous daughters are Juanna of Castille and Catherine of Aragon.

Juanna of Castille or Juanna la Loca

Juana became known as Juanna la Loca (Joanna the Mad), because of her emotional disorders, which worsened with the affairs of her husband, Philip the Handsome, by whom she was completely in love.

Most historians now agree that she had melancholia, severe clinical depression, a psychosis, or a case of inherited schizophrenia. There is debate about the diagnosis that she was mentally ill considering that her symptoms were aggravated by non-consensual confinement and control by others who had assumed her royal powers.

c. 1500

Catherine of Aragon (Catalina de Aragon), queen of England

Catalina de Aragon as princess of Wales, when she still was married with prince Arthur, Henry VIII’s older brother and heir of english throne until his death. She became queen of England by her marriage with Henry VIII. Henry divorced her to marry Anne Boleyn. She and Henry was Queen Mary I’s parents.

As I relied on a picture of only her face, I used as reference, the dresses Elizabeth of York (her mother-in-law) and Isabella of Castile (her mother) to can make the skirt.

I was wondering make a real version of Catalina, since only had done the Tudor’s show version. Catalina was red, not brunet, and how I made her mother, sisters and daughter as red, it would be really weird if just she didn’t was according with she really was.

The 1st fanart was inspired in one of her most famous portraits when she stillwas just princess of Wales as wife of prince Arthur Tudor (c. 1502), and 2nd fanart was inspired in a George Stuart’s wax figure when she already was queen of England as the first wife of Henry VIII (c. 1530).

c. 1530

In the next posts we’ll see Juanna’s daughters

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My Trastamara’s Girls - Part Two

Newly I posted the Trastamara’s Family Three, and talked a little about the matriarch, Isabella of Castille.

Now I’ll introduce two of her daughters, both queens of Portugal and wives of King Manuel I.

Isabella de Aragon, princess of Asturias and queen of Portugal.

She was the first daughter and heiress of Ferdinand de Aragon and Isabella de Castile, and the beloved first wife of portuguese King Manuel I.

In 1490 Isabella married Afonso, Prince of Portugal, the heir of John II of Portugal. Though it was an arranged marriage, Isabella and Afonso quickly fell in love, and Isabella was grief-stricken when he died in 1491: sent home to her parents by John II, she declared that she would never marry again and would enter a convent. Her parents ignored this, and in 1497 she was persuaded to marry Manuel I of Portugal, Afonso’s uncle and John II’s cousin and successor. She did so on condition that Manuel follow her parents’ religious policy and expel Jews who would not convert to Christianity from his realm. This he duly did. In the same year, Isabella became Princess of Asturias and heiress of Castile following the death of her only brother John and the stilbirth of his daughter.

Was really hard find good images to make her, the only one where she appears in full body, she’s on her back, so to make her headdress I used a drawing of her that certainly is from ten years after the model of the dress.

c. 1485

Maria de Aragon, queen of Portugal

She was the second daughter of Ferdinand de Aragon and Isabella de Castile, and the second wife of portuguese King Manuel I.

As an infanta of Spain, her hand in marriage was very important in European politics. Before her marriage to Manuel I of Portugal, her parents entertained the idea of marrying her off to King James IV of Scotland. This was at a time when her younger sister Catherine’s marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales, was being planned. Ferdinand and Isabella thought if Maria was Queen of Scotland, the two sisters could keep the peace between their husbands. These plans, however, came to nothing. Her eldest sister Isabella, Princess of Asturias, was the first wife of Manuel I, but her death in 1498 created a necessity for Manuel to remarry. Maria became the next bride of the Portuguese king, reaffirming dynastic links with Spanish royal houses. 

Manuel and Maria were married in 1500, and had 10 children, eight of whom reached adulthood, including King John III of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress Isabella of Portugal, and Beatrice, Duchess of Savoy.

c. 1505

In the next post we’ll see the two must famous daughters of Isabella of Castile, Juanna and Catalina.

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My Trastamara’s Girls - Part One

Do you remember of my Trastamara Family Tree?

Of course the family isn’t totaly complete, but I’ve done all the Trastamara’s queens after Isabella of Castile.

Isabella of Castille - The Matriarch

Isabella of Castile, also known as Isabel “the Catholic”, queen of Castile and Leon, was one of the most important queens of history, she and her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon, brought stability to the kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain.

Isabella and Ferdinand are known for completing the Reconquista, ordering conversion or exile of their Muslim and Jewish subjects and financing Christopher Columbus’ 1492 voyage that led to the opening of the “New World”.

c. 1492

All her daughters were queens!

Isabella and Maria are queens of Portugal, Juanna heir the throne of Castile by her mother, and Catalina (Catherine of Aragon) was queen of England.

I’m making a lot of posts about this family tree, taking 2 queens in each post. So, come back later ;)

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My Ghirlandaio’s Girls

Domenico Ghirlandaio is one of my favorite artists ever! And the Capella Tornabuoni’s frescoes can be considered as his masterpiece!

So I made 3 of my favorite Ghirlandaio’s Girls. The first one is his muse Giovanna (degli Albizzi) Tornabuoni, from “The Nativity”. 

Giovanna is the gorgeous young wife of Lorenzo Tornabuoni, son of Giovanni Tornabuoni the head of the family.

Ghirlandaio immortalized her also in the painting “Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni”, one of his most famous artworks.

The second is, possibly, a Medici lady, maybe Lorenzo’s older daughter, Lucrezia. Since the Tornabuonis and the Medicis had a lot of marriages between the families, and a lot of Medici members are in the frescoes, is very presumptive the girl close to Clarice Orsini (Lorenzo’s wife) and Lucrrezia Tornabuoni (Lorenzo’s mother) is a Medici girl. But I can’t be sure of that, I’m still researching about it.

The fresco is “Birth of the Baptist”

The last one is the young Ludovica Tornabuoni, a 13 years old daughter of Messer Giovanni Tornabuoni, from “The Birth of Mary”.

Did you like my Ghirlandaio’s girls? I love this artist so much, so it’s very possible that I’ll make a lot of more of his ladies ;)

c. 1488

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My Tolstoy Girl

Today is Leo Tolstoy 186th birthday, so let’s toast with a Anna Karenina’s fanart! 

Cheers!!!

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My Tudor Girls Family Tree

You can see it better here!

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My Sorceress Girl

I just finished my Lady Oonagh (from Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier), and I’m very happy with the result!

Lady Oonagh is the powerful sorceress from Sevenwaters Trilogy by Juliet Marillier.

She is very evil, and want to destroy the Sevenwaters people, and take control of the feud through her son Ciáran, the 7th son of a 7th son, and just because of that a really powerful man!

To achieve their goals, she turns the 6 older children of her husband into swans. Sorcha, the only girl,  manages to escape, and Lady Oonagh starts to chase her to destroy her before she can break the curse.

I’ve already made Sorcha (Daughter of Forest), and her daughters Niamh and Liadan (Son of the Shadows), and now I’ll make Fainne (Child of Prophecy), Niamh’s daughter. ;)

c. 838

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My Medieval Girl

Last sunday, I went to Picnic Vitoriano São Paulo wearing my medieval gown, inspired on the early 14th century fashion.

I used a lot of research to decided on this outfit, but I really love the final result of this! :)

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My Warlord Chronicles Girls

Ceinwyn, Guinevere and Nimue from The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell, his version of the King Arthur history.

Ceinwyn (the blond) is a princess who gives up all her royalty privileges to live with the simple warrior Derfel Cadarn.

Guinevere (the red) is a stunning princess for whom Arthur falls.

Nimue (the brunette) is Merlim mistress, a powerful sorceress and the Lady of the Lake

This trylogy is one of my favorites ever!!!

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Me as a Mucha Girl

A few weeks ago happened the 5 O'Clock Tea from the Picnic Vitoriano São Paulo group, and the theme of this edition was the 150 years of the criation of the subway of London, so everyone was really victorian. But, as I’m a rebel, I decided to make a different victorian costume, I made an aesthetic dress inspired on the pre-rapahelite muses, as the girl who posed to Alphonse Mucha as gree nymphs…

Do you like it? :)

c. 1899

Happy birthday to Jane Austen!

My Henry VIII’s Girls

Finally I finished my Six Wives of Henry VIII from Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum!

I will not extend myself talking all over again about these six women. But I’ll put all of them here to you can see it better ;)

Hey how, let’s go?

Catalina de Aragon (or Catherine of Aragon)

Anne Boleyn

Jane Seymour

Anna von Kleve (or Anne of Cleves)

Kathryn Howard (or Katherine Howard)

Katherine Parr

Which one is your favorite?

16th Century

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The White Queen Girls

Debuting my new doll, I’ve done the women behind the War of the Roses (York versus Lancaster): Margaret Beaufort (The Red Queen), Elizabeth Woodville (The White Queen), and the Neville’s girls, Isabel and Anne (The Kingmaker’s Daughters) from the BBC’s namesake show.

Margaret was Henry VII’s mother, Elizabeth Woodville was the peasant who became a queen, Edward IV’s wife, and Anne Neville was Richard III’s queen. Isabel almost became a queen, she was the wife of George, duke of Clarence, Edward and Richard’s brother.

Margaret Beaufort

Anne Neville

Isabel Neville

c. 1464

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Today is the 477th aniversary of Anne Boleyn death

My Shadow Queen Girl

Iseult, the Shadow Queen, from Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories, is a celtic briton queen (one of the lastest) and my favorite character of the Saxon Stories books.
She appears in The Pale Horseman. Iseult was married to a minor king named Peredur who kept her virginity in the belief that it maintained her powers of prophecy. Seeing that Uhtred’s arrival would result in her freedom, she convinced Peredur to hire on Uhtred and his ship’s crew when they appeared off the coast in order to fight the Danish warlord Svein of the White Horse, who had captured a nearby fort. Svein and Uhtred ended up colluding to turn on Peredur and pillage his settlement, and Uhtred claimed Iseult and began living with her although he was still married to Mildrith. Although Iseult healed Alfred’s son Edward from an illness that nearly killed him and created herbal medicines for Alfred that made him healthier, she was feared and distrusted by the Wessex court because of her paganism. Alfred used her as a “surety” to ensure that Uhtred would not betray him and go to the Danes. She was later baptized, which helped alleviate some of the resentment against her. She prophecised that Uhtred would father three children, two sons and a daughter but refused to go into any detail when pressed. She was killed during the Battle of Ethandun when the Danes attacked the Wessex caravan behind their line.

I’ve already made Aethelflaed too ;)

c. 876

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My Fairy Tale’s Weaver Girl

Sorcha of Sevenwaters (or Jenny of Harrowfield) from the book Daughter of the Forest (Juliet Marillier) is a young irish girl living with the bretons when she weaves the startwort shirts to break the spell that transformed her six brothers into swans (the book is inspired on the fairy tale of “The Six Swans” amazinglymixed with Irish legends).

The startwort plants and flowers that she used to spin the magicalshirts had thorns that hurt and disfigured her hands.

I won this book as birthday gift from a dearest friend, and now I’m dying to read the whole series.

As the romance takes place in the beggining of King Aethelwulf of Wessex reign, I believe the approximate date is circa of 840.

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My Grove Girl!

Some time ago I made the beauty Simonetta di Saronno from the book “The Madonna of the Almonds” by Marina Fiorato, and I would do next the another female character of the book, Amaria Sant’Ambrogio. 

She is very rustic and naive grove girl, and even didn’t have the beauty standarts of her time (she is brunette with a swarthy skin), she is very pretty.

Amaria found Selvaggio, a young soldier with amnesia, and help him. And the couple felt in love with each other. Their love is so adorable!

I tried to make her as she was described to her wedding day in the book ;)

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that december 16 is Jane Austen’s day!

Happy birthday to her!!!

As you can remember, I’ve already made some of her heroines as Elinor and Marianne Daswood, Elizabeth Bennet and Emma Woodhouse. But I’m not finished yet, I’ll make the other Bennet sisters, Fanny from Mansfield Park, Catherine from Northanger Abbey, and Anne from Persuasion. ;)

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Yesterday (december 15) was Catherine of Aragon’s birthday. Happy birthday to her!!!

I’ve already made some fanarts of her, even being a huge Anne Boleyn’s fan ;)

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