Elisabeth of Bohemia

[regensburg]

I know she was born a Stuart in Scotland but I think this belongs with the Wittelsbach family! I came accross the following painting by Honthorst in a book printed in 1938. It was then in the palace of Herrenhausen which suffered in the war. Does anybody know if it survived or if there is a better version of the photo?



It shows Elisabeth with all her family and a portrait of her husband.

[bell_the_cat]

Hallo Regensburg! There's a thread on Elisabeth on the Stuarts thread ( with lots of pics) but whatever! I'e never seen this picture before - it's great!

Here are her children:

* Heinrich-Friedrich 1614-1629
   * Karl Ludwig I 1617-1680
   * Elisabeth 1618-1680
   * Rupert 1619-1682
   * Maurice 1621-1652
   * Louise Hollandine +1709
   * Eduard 1625-1663
   * Henrietta Maria 1626-1651
   * Sophie 1630-1714

I guess that Frederick and the eldest son (he drowned) are beckoning from beyond the grave.

[thijs]

Elisabeth, Electress Palatine and (briefly) queen of Bohemia (August 19, 1596 – February 13, 1662), born Lady Elizabeth Stuart, was born as the eldest daughter to King James VI of Scotland and his Queen consort Anne of Denmark. She was thus sister to Charles I of England. With the demise of the Stuart dynasty in 1714, her direct descendants, the Hanoverian rulers, succeeded to the British throne.

In 1613, she married Frederick V, then Elector of the Palatinate, and took up her place in the court at Heidelberg. In 1619, Frederick was offered and accepted the crown of Bohemia, but his rule was brief, and Elizabeth became known as the "Winter Queen". She was also sometimes called "Queen of Hearts" because of her popularity.

Driven into exile, the couple took up residence in The Hague, and Frederick died in 1632. Elizabeth remained in Holland even after her son, Charles I Louis, regained his father's electorship in 1648. Following the Restoration of the British monarchy, she travelled to London to visit her nephew, King Charles II, and died while there. Her daughter was known later as Sophia of Hanover. Her grandson became George I of the United Kingdom, thus making all her direct descendants heir to the British throne.

[dboro]

I know she was born a Stuart in Scotland but I think this belongs with the Wittelsbach family! I came accross the following painting by Honthorst in a book printed in 1938. It was then in the palace of Herrenhausen which suffered in the war. Does anybody know if it survived or if there is a better version of the photo?



It shows Elisabeth with all her family and a portrait of her husband.

Some information from a Catalogue raisonnée of Gerrit van Hontholst's works (Sorry, but I don't remember the author   ).
So:
Allegory of Justice (1636)
Canvas: 313 x 478 cm.
Herrenhausen, Coll. Prince Ernst August von Hannover

"Hontholst has placed Elizabeth, Queeen of Bohemia, to the right of center in a wagon drawn by two lions. She holds the sceptre of Bohemia in her right hand while her left is placed before her breast. Elizabeth wears an ermine cape over a lightly colored dress. Her youngest daughter, Sophie, is depicted as an angel and holds a laurel wreath, symbol of victory, above her mother's head. Neptune, in the bottom right foreground, is being crushed by one of the wagon wheels. His trident is on the ground to his left. Behind and to the right of Queen Elizabeth, her three oldest sons are on horseback. Reading from left to right, they are Rupert, dressed in armor and holding a baton in his right hand, Karl Ludwig in an ermine cape, wearing the Elector's hat of the Palatine family and the chain with the Order of St. George of the Garter and Maurice dressed in armor and carrying a lance. three of the princesses stand to the left of queen Elizabewth. Henrietta Marie, the youngest, is the first on the right and then comes Louise Hollandine, holding a palm branch, and finally elizabeth II, carrying a laurel wreath in each hand. In front of them, the youngest member of the family, Gustav, with angel wings and crowned with a laurel wreath, leads the lions to the gates of heaven. Here one finds thedeceased King Frederik and his son Frederik Hendrik. They are standing in clouds, carry palm branches, and welcome the procession. Behind and above the Fredericks, Ludwig and Charlotte, who had died at an early age, are shown in heaven looking down on the scene. In the bottom left foreground, Edward holds a bow and stands to the right of his brother Philip.
Hontholst has painted a complicated Allegory of the History of the Winter King's Family which is most likely an Allegory of Justice. The notion of Justice in this picture is stressed by the crushing of Netune beneath Queen Elizabeth's wagon. It was Neptune who had taken her beloved son, Frederik Hendrik, from her, when he drowned in an accident in 1629 just outside Amsterdam."
There's a probable pendent, an Allegory of Injustice in Heidelberg.

[Prince_Lieven]

One of my favourite Stuarts!   While in exile in The Hague she had the company of her niece Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, whom Elizabeth loved dearly - she called her 'my best neece'. Elizabeth was named, of course, for Elizabeth I of England, who was also her godmother (but neglected to send a chritening present!  ). It was the intention of the men who hatched the Gunpowder Plot to place Elizabeth on the English throne as a Catholic monarch.

[dboro]

Two more related works by Honthorst:

Elizabeth:


and Frederik V: