Princess Yusupova by Winterhalter - twice

This portrait, painted in Paris in 1858, is of Princess Tatiana Alexandrovna Yusupova, née comtesse de Ribeaupierre (29 June 1828, Lucca, Italy - 14 January 1879, Crans-près-Céligny, Switzerland), the wife of Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (12 October 1827, Moscow - 31 July 1891, Baden-Baden), Marshal of the Imperial Court and patron of the arts. Princess Yusupova was the daughter of Comte Alexandre de Ribeaupierre and his wife Ekaterina Mikhailovna Potemkina, and was a lady-in-waiting to the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna - by 1858, the Dowager Empress - the consort of Nicholas I. The Princess and her husband had only one surviving child, Zinaida, born in 1861, who would in turn be the mother of Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov, infamous as one of the assassins of Rasputin.

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This second portrait, though usually credited to Winterhalter, looks decidedly to be a copy by another hand; certainly the rather crude "additions" were not painted by the artist. In this version, she wears the ribbon and cipher of the Empress on her left shoulder. She's also wearing the sash and insignia of the Bavarian Order of Theresa; I have no idea why. On her right shoulder, securing the sash, is a long pearl epaulette and, most interestingly, the Yusupov Lover's Knot tiara has been added to the portrait.

The tiara is one of several of identical or nearly identical design owned or once owned by several European royal or princely families. Besides the Yusupov example, among others there were versions in Bavaria and Saxony. But the "Cambridge Lover's Knot" tiara, made in 1818 and which had passed to the Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the aunt of Great Britain's Queen Mary, was the most influential: in 1913-14 Queen Mary had a replica made of her aunt's tiara. Still in the Royal Collection, the row of upstanding pearls long since removed, the tiara was famously worn by Diana, Princess of Wales during her marriage. (And has been worn at least once by her daughter-in-law, the present Duchess of Cambridge.) The Yusupov tiara hasn't fared so well. Hidden by Prince Felix Yusupov at the time of the Revolution, it was discovered by the Bolsheviks and soon after dismantled along with the other Yusupov jewels, its stones dispersed and/or sold.

Bolshevik "jewelers" dismantling pieces that had belonged to the Yusupov family, along with jewels that had been the personal property of
the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, sister of the Tsar and mother-in-law of Felix Yusupov. In this rarefied heap are included works by
Cartier, Chaumet, Bolin, and others. (There may be the confiscated property of other individuals here, as well.)

The Lover's Knot tiara, some of its pearls already removed.

Lastly, instead of the generalized landscape, this version includes a view of the family's estate, Arkhangelskoe. 

The one who gets all the loot - bejeweled portraits of Queen Mary

Portrait by Arthur Trevethin Nowell, 1927.

During her time, Queen Mary - the consort of George V, grandmother of the present queen - oversaw a great wealth of jewelry being added to the already brimming royal coffers of the United Kingdom. Both in the collection of "crown jewels", and those held in private possession of the Windsor ladies. Many pieces were new-made, other were redesigns of earlier pieces. And she also purchased important pieces from those royals who had not fared so well post-WWI, most notably, the surviving members of the Russian Imperial family. (Though the Queen was a notorious magpie and "bargain-hunter" - perhaps the lingering result of a royal but embarrassingly debt-ridden childhood - rumors that appeared a few decades back that, during the Thirties, she bought up her Russian relatives' jewelry for less than market value, appear to have been proven false.)

Detail of above. The Queen is wearing the "Lover's Knot" tiara she had had made by Garrard in 1914, copied from a tiara owned by her
aunt and godmother, Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The uppermost pearls removed, it was later famously worn by
Diana, Princess of Wales.

During her husband's reign and as a dowager, she was not afraid to display this ever-accumulating bounty on her person and, like her mother-in-law Queen Alexandra before her, she was quite impressive in the sheer quantity of ornamentation she could carry. Indeed, even more so than her petite predecessor, Queen Mary's height and the great expanse of her famously prodigious bosom were able to accommodate a truly mighty jeweled burden. And her husband and the British people took great delight in their queen "all got up like a Christmas tree." This was true even after the Edwardian age that was her heyday had passed, after the fashions changed - and she stayed the same. She was reliably bejeweled and immovable. And has thus remained a royal icon.

Portrait by Richard Jack, 1927. The Queen wears the diamond and pendant pearl tiara that had belonged to the Grand Duchess Vladimir of
Russia. The large brooch centered on the Garter Riband is made up of the third and fourth cuttings from the famous Cullinan diamond;
the present Queen has referred to them as "Granny's Chips".

Portrait by Simon Elwes, 1933-34. Queen Mary wears the Vladimir tiara with the brooch from the Garrard suite of 1863 which was given as a
wedding present to the future Queen Alexandra by her fiancé, then Prince of Wales.

A colored illustration from a contemporary periodical, circa 1902.

Portrait by Sir William Samuel Henry Llewellyn, 1914. The queen, dressed in Garter robes, wears the "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" tiara.
The upstanding pearls later removed, it has become iconic as worn by her grand-daughter, especially early in her reign.

Portrait by Arthur Trevethin Nowell, 1935. She again wears the "Lover's Knot" tiara.

Portrait by Simon Elwes, 1938. Dressed for the coronation of her son, George VI, she again wears the Cullinan III and IV brooch.

Portrait by David Jagger, 1930. A bit more understated, this, the queen is only wearing a few rubies and some pearls.

A watercolor sketch done from the group portrait of 1913, by Sir John Lavery, 1914.

Oil sketch of the Queen, by Sir John Lavery, done in preparation for or commemoration of the group portrait seen below, 1913.

"The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace", by Sir John Lavery, 1913.

Portrait by Leonard Campbell Taylor, 1928. The diamond choker was later shortened into a bracelet by her successor, Queen Elizabeth.

Coronation portrait by Sir William Samuel Henry Llewellyn, 1911-12. The State Diadem was actually made for the coronation of George IV -
though, as it happened, it went unused - but since then has only been worn by queens, consort and regnant.

Dressed for the coronation of Edward VII, circa 1902. Miniature based on a photograph by W. & D. Downey.

Portrait by Sir Oswald Birley, 1934. The Queen wears the choker as in the portrait by Taylor, above, as well as the "True Lover's Knot" brooch.