Friday, July 15, 2016

Horsey ladies; or, trop d'amazones - random equestriennes


Queen Victoria on horseback, a preparatory sketch by Sir Francis Grant, 1845.
Maria Theresia as Queen of Hungary on the crowning hill of Pressburg, unknown artist, circa 1741.
Unknown, ND. (This should rather be labeled a "mule-y lady.")
Laetitia, Lady Lade, by George Stubbs, 1793.
Detail of above.
Baronne X. - Amazone en chapeau haut-de-forme devant un étang, by Alfred de Dreux, circa 1845-50.
Princess Marie Henriette of Austria, after 1865 Queen of the Belgians, circa 1860. (Two images.)
Mrs. Margaretta Park Frew Riding, by Sir Alfred James Munnings, circa 1924.
The Empress Eugénie, by Charles-Édouard Boutibonne, 1856. The now lost Château de Saint-Cloud is to be seen in the background.
The Empress Elizabeth of Russia, by Georg Christoph Grooth, circa 1743-49.
Grand Duchess later Empress Maria Feodorovna, circa 1860s.
Same as above, circa 1870s.
Detail of above.
Maria Feodorovna's sister, Alexandra, Princess of Wales, and her husband the future Edward VII, Sandringham, before 1867.
Alexandra, Princess of Wales, circa 1886. (Note that she's seated on the off side; after a severe bout with rheumatic fever in 1867,
she was left with a permanently stiff right knee and thereafter had to use a sidesaddle with the pommel on the "wrong" side.)
Lady on Horseback, Joseph Campeche, 1785. (For whatever reason, her saddle is also on the "wrong" side.)
Maria Anna of Neuburg, Queen of Spain, by Luca Giordano, 1693-94.
Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of the Netherlands, by Tethart Philip Christian Haag, 1789. (Unusually, she is riding astride.)
Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, circa 1860s. This looks to be a photographic image of the Grand Duchess melded with a
photograph of an actual painting - a very early version of Photoshop. The Pavlovsk Palace can be seen in the background.
Unknown, ND. This appears to be some version - a preparatory sketch, using a different model? - of the following image.
Isabel II dirigiendo una revista militar, Charles Porion, 1867.
Amazone au caraco jaune, by Alfred de Dreux, circa 1840-50s.
Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Olga Nikolaevna and their aunt, Grand Duchess Eleonore of Hessen und bei Rhein, Livadia, 1912.
Madame la duchesse de la Ferté, from a series of French court ladies, all by Joseph Parrocel, circa 1670s.
Madame la duchesse d'Aumont, from the same series.
Madame la comtesse d'Armagnacq, from the same series.
Madame la duchesse de Bouillon, from the same series.
Unknown, ND.
Marie Jeanne Baptiste de Savoie-Nemours, duchessa di Savoia, the self-styled "Madama Reale", by Charles Dauphin (?), circa 1660-70s.
Woman in French Garde du Corps uniform, unknown artist, circa 1787.
Caterina Insarda marchesa di Caluso and Eleonora Delibera San Martino marchesa di Parella, unknown artist, Savoy, circa 1658-63.
Unknown, ND.
 Isabel of France, Queen of Spain and Portugal, by Diego Velázquez, 1635-36.
Margarita of Austria, Queen of Spain and Portugal, by Diego Velázquez, 1634-35. Painted more than twenty years after her death.
Empress Elisabeth at the hunt, circa 1870-80.
Queen Marie Antoinette at the hunt, by Louis-Auguste Brun, called "Brun de Versoix", 1783.
Emma Powles on her Grey Hunter accompanied by her spaniel in a river landscape, by Jaques-Laurent Agasse, circa 1810-20.
Queen María Luisa of Spain, by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, 1799.
The courtesan Catherine Walters aka "Skittles" (?), circa 1870s. (Notice the painted backdrop.)
The comtesse de Ranchicourt leaving for the hunt, by Théodore Chassériau, 1854.



5 comments:

  1. the unknown lady on a mule reminds me of Mrs Gulch from the Wizard of Oz!

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    1. Haha, indeed! But, to be clear, it is - Miss - Gulch; her unmarried, middle-aged and no doubt entirely - virginal - condition would perhaps explain some of her crankiness. ; )

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  2. Wonderful! Although I think your first picture of the Princess of Wales is actually Elzabeth Walters "Skittles", a famous courtesan of the time.

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    1. I think you could be correct; something about that image didn't seem quite right - the waist is too small, the hair styled differently. I certainly know of "Skittles" - Catherine Walters - and though when Googling her I haven't been able to find this exact image, I definitely think this could be her. I'll update the post - Thank you so much!

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  3. Belles dames de finesse equestre - Fine ladies of equestrian finesse - Rj /E

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