Queen Maria of Romania, Part 3

[Eric_Lowe]

Thanks for sharing. It was a very pretty hat.

[Laura_]

you're welcome! it comes from www.peles.ro , so all credit to them!

Queen Marie busts


 

[Laura_]

Statue models by Ioan Mihele and Dumitru Paina -- Oradea, September, 2011//

[Laura_]

[Eric_Lowe]

Any small busts of Missy for sale ?

[Laura_]

Any small busts of Missy for sale ?

I've never seen any but it would be super nice to have one in the future...like the small busts of Kaiserin Elisabeth one can buy in Vienna...

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. I got a nice one of Sisi in Vienna. You can also find old busts of Queen Victoria or Queen Alexandra in the antigue shops in London. A Queen Marie bust would be a good addition to one's home...

[Laura_]

Another pose from famous sitting :-)

[Eric_Lowe]

I could imagine here wearing it to a party.

[historyfan]

That is one dramatic headpiece!

What is she holding? Was it a model of something (looks like a cathedral), or was it actually a box of some sort?

[Eric_Lowe]

I think it was a box looking like a church. Very Medieval in design.

[aleksandr pavlovich]

That is one dramatic headpiece!

What is she holding? Was it a model of something (looks like a cathedral), or was it actually a box of some sort?

 
       I have very, very little interest in this Queen, but I have always felt that she hoped that she had the flair to replicate "romanticized" accessories and stances/poses of the Mediaeval/Byzantine periods in costume, crowns, photographic sessions, etc.
      IMO, as to the box held, it could potentially represent a model (as shown in true Mediaeval/Byzantine art of the periods) of the financially-backed donation of an actual church from herself or the royal family.  Potentially it could also be a reliquary of some sort.  
      In humour (though no one has suggested such), surely she would not be so ostentatious as to display her own jewelry box !                                                                                                                                                                    Regards,  AP.  

[CountessKate]

She looks like a medieval donor or founder of a church or other religious institution - they were often shown with the image of their religious foundation in their hands.  In 'The Lost Royal Portraits of Gerace
and Cefalu Cathedrals' by Mark J Johnson (Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No. 53, 1999), he notes "From at least the sixth century on, the donor holding a model of his foundation is a common theme in the church art of both the East and the West."  The Great Soviet Encyclopedia states that "in medieval and Renaissance art and sometimes in the art of later periods, a representation of the builder of the church holding a model of the structure in his hands or of the patron who had ordered the painting, more rarely, sculpture or work of decorative applied art. The donor usually stands before Christ and the Virgin Mary or the saints."
Here is Pope Honorious :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Onorio_I_-_mosaico_Santa_Agnese_fuori_le_mura.jpg
And the Emperors Justinian and Constantine (Constantine with a model of Constantinople, Justinian with Hagia Sofia):
http://www.medievalwall.com/painting/byzantine-mosaics-hagia-sophia/
Sir Simon de Drayton:
http://www.englishhistoricchurches.co.uk/?p=792

Whether Marie had actually contributed to a religious foundation and was commemorating this, or was just dressing up in a historical costume, the imagery might have been particularly familiar through Russian icons etc. during her early years.

[Laura_]

And we have  absolutely no interest in your opinion whatsoever! 

      I have very, very little interest in this Queen, but I have always felt that she hoped that she had the flair to replicate "romanticized" accessories and stances/poses of the Mediaeval/Byzantine periods in costume, crowns, photographic sessions, etc.
      IMO, as to the box held, it could potentially represent a model (as shown in true Mediaeval/Byzantine art of the periods) of the financially-backed donation of an actual church from herself or the royal family.  Potentially it could also be a reliquary of some sort.  
      In humour (though no one has suggested such), surely she would not be so ostentatious as to display her own jewelry box !                                                                                                                                                                    Regards,  AP.  

[aleksandr pavlovich]

And we have  absolutely no interest in your opinion whatsoever!  

      I have very, very little interest in this Queen, but I have always felt that she hoped that she had the flair to replicate "romanticized" accessories and stances/poses of the Mediaeval/Byzantine periods in costume, crowns, photographic sessions, etc.
      IMO, as to the box held, it could potentially represent a model (as shown in true Mediaeval/Byzantine art of the periods) of the financially-backed donation of an actual church from herself or the royal family.  Potentially it could also be a reliquary of some sort.  
      In humour (though no one has suggested such), surely she would not be so ostentatious as to display her own jewelry box !                                                                                                                                                                    Regards,  AP.  

Many thanks for exercising your individual right of comment!  I'm glad it caught your attention and added some color to your day! Apropos, your use of the regal "We" gave me MY laugh !              Regards,  AP.