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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
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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 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 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
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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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My Almond Girl
I just finish reading “The Madonna of the Almonds” by Marina Fiorato, and totally felt in love with Bernardino Luini and his muse, Simonetta di Saronno!
Bernardino Luini was one of the Leonardo da Vinci’s pupils, and a huge artist!
In 1525 he went to Saronno (near to Milan) to painting the church Santa Maria dei Miracoli, but he needed a model to the Madonna!
According with the legend, he found his inspiration in a young widowed innkeeper, who became his model and (in most versions) lover. Out of gratitude and affection, the woman wished to give him a gift. Her simple means did not permit much, so she steeped apricot kernels in brandy and presented the resulting concoction to a touched Luini.
That’s the Amaretto!
Since he met her, he start to painting her face in all of his jobs.
The book has an adorable love story, and I recommend it to all that love historical fiction ;)
c. 1528
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My Capulet Girl - part two
The other new Juliet from my obsessive collection is Susan Shentall from the 1954 version of Renato Castellani’s version.
I didn’t see this version yet, but the little bit that I’ve already see I love the historical art inspirations!
Venus and Mars by Sandro Botticelli. 1483
The Funeral of St. Ursula by Vittore Carpaccio. 1493
Salomone e la Regina di Saba by Piero della Francesca. 1452
The fashion of this movie seems to be from the 1460 or 70s decade.
Gorgeous, right?
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My Period Movies Girl
Congratulations to the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow.
Gwyneth is a great actress, and made a lot of periodo movies, between them:
Shakespeare in Love (one of my favorites!)
She won an oscar for this movie!
Emma
Thomas Jefferson
and Jefferson in Paris
Today is her birthday ;)
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My Capulet Girl - part one
I didn’t watch the new version of Romeo and Juliet yet, but I’m totaly in love with this dress!!!
Hailee Steinfeld is really adorable as Juliet in the photos!
And, as I’m a huge fan of Shakespeare and totaly addicted about Romeo and Juliet, I had to do her too!
I’ve already made almost all of the most signifcative Juliets from the movies! So I’ll try to talk a little bit of all of them soon ;)
c. end of 15th Century
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My Trastamara’s Girls - Part Seven
Finally finishing the Trastamara’s queens family three, Maria of Spain, Anna and Elisabeth of Austria.
Maria of Spain, Holly Roman Empress
She was the spouse of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary. She was the daughter of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal, and twice served as regent of Spain.
Maria and Maximiliam had sixteen children during the course of a twenty-eight-year marriage. Among them the Holly Roman Emperors Rudolf II and Matthias III, and the queens Anna and Elisabeth of Austria, the first queen of Spain and the last queen of France.
While her father was occupied with German affairs, Maria and Maximilian acted as regents of Spain from 1548 to 1551 during the absence of Prince Philip. Maria stayed at the Spanish court until August 1551, and in 1552 the couple moved to live at the court of Maximilian’s father in Vienna. During another absence of her brother, now King Philip II, from 1558 to 1561, Maria was again regent of Spain and returned to Madrid during that time.
After her return to Germany, her husband gradually succeeded his father Ferdinand I as ruler of Germany, Bohemia and Hungary, which he ruled from 1564 to his death in 1576. Maria was a devout Catholic and frequently disagreed with her religiously ambiguous husband. She had great influence over her sons, the future emperors Rudolf and Matthias.
c. 1557
Anna of Austria, queen of Spain
She was the eldest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, and the fourth and last wife of Phillip II of Spain (the other first two are her cousins, Maria Manuela, daughter of Catherine of Austria; and Mary I of England, daughter os Catherine of Aragon. The third is the french princess Elisabeth of Valois)
Anna was considered her father’s favorite child. The story goes that he enjoyed playing and gambling with her and once a meeting of the Estates of Hungary was postponed because Anna was sick. She received a Catholic education even though her father was sympathetic to Lutheranism.
As the eldest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Anna was a desirable candidate for marriage at the European courts. Her parents thought of a Spanish marriage to strengthen links between the Austrian and Spanish Habsburg families. Initially she had her cousin Don Carlos of Spain in mind, the only son of her maternal uncle Philip II of Spain, but with the death of Don Carlos and the wife of Phillip, Elisabeth of Valois, the plans had changed, and she married with her uncle.
Besides being her father’s favorite child, Anna was also Philip’s most beloved wife. But the marriage was at first opposed by many, including Pope Pius V. According to diplomats, the king was in love with his young bride.
It was Philip’s fourth marriage, but the king still had no male heir. Anna completed her duties flawlessly in that regard. Not only was she a good stepmother to Philip’s daughters Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catherine Michelle, but she also gave birth to five children, including sons.
She had 4 sons and only one daughter, Maria, but the girl died with only 3 years old.
c. 1571
Elisabeth of Austria, queen of France
She was the wife of King Charles IX, and a member of the House of Habsburg, she was the second favorite daughter of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor. Her Maria of Spain, was daughter of Isabella of Portugal, a descendant of Isabella of Castile.
With her flawless white skin, long blond hair and perfect physique, she was considered one of the great beauties of the era, and she was just as intelligent and charming as her father.
After the death of her husband, she returned to Vienna, and lived at first in her childhood home, Schloss Stallburg. On 1576 her beloved father Maximilian II died, and her brother Rudolf II succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor. Her last great tragedy came on 1578, when her six-year-old daughter Marie Elisabeth died.
When a new proposal of marriage was made to her, this time from King Philip II of Spain after the death of his wife Anna in 1580, she again refused; according to Brantôme, she replied to the offer with the famous phrase: “The Queens of France never remarried” (Les Reines de France ne se remarient point), once said by Blanche of Navarre, widow of King Philip VI.
c. 1573
And now, the complete family three of Trastamara’s queens descendents of Isabella of Castile:
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