Well, if Wellington can have a nude statue of Napoleon in his house...
I think it’s quite likely that Fritz wanted to troll people, and possibly (while she was still alive) MT herself if reports get to her, and yes, period portraits look very similar to us, what with the wigs and the beauty ideals needing to be observed, but just for the sake of argument: MT was actually one of the few people whose portrait would have been recognizable to people within the HRE. Partly due to Fritz. Because those portraits of her and her family were a loyalty declaration, just as Fritz’ portraits were. For example, recently I was at the castle in Würzburg, which at the relevant era was held by the Schönborn family (v important Catholic family through several centuries all over the HRE and there’s a cardinal von Schönborn in Vienna even now), and sure enough, there was MT, both young and old, and Joseph (younger), too. For non-nobles, there were prints.
Now how much those portraits actually resembled the person - shrug. (Though I’d say Wilhelmine’s pastel is recognizable MT if you’ve seen some of her other portraits.) But they certainly had created an iconic look, identifiable to the casual observer.
(BTW, I was v amused at Fritz complimenting MT on her complexion in the crack fic, ,because, Cahn, that’s another insult if you consider the Prussian ambassador wrote to Fritz she was ruining her face with all that outdoorsy stuff. (Remember the period ideal for female skin was soft, white and rosy, not tanned and wind-weathered!)
Portrait of MT in Fritz’ bedroom
I think it’s quite likely that Fritz wanted to troll people, and possibly (while she was still alive) MT herself if reports get to her, and yes, period portraits look very similar to us, what with the wigs and the beauty ideals needing to be observed, but just for the sake of argument: MT was actually one of the few people whose portrait would have been recognizable to people within the HRE. Partly due to Fritz. Because those portraits of her and her family were a loyalty declaration, just as Fritz’ portraits were. For example, recently I was at the castle in Würzburg, which at the relevant era was held by the Schönborn family (v important Catholic family through several centuries all over the HRE and there’s a cardinal von Schönborn in Vienna even now), and sure enough, there was MT, both young and old, and Joseph (younger), too. For non-nobles, there were prints.
Now how much those portraits actually resembled the person - shrug. (Though I’d say Wilhelmine’s pastel is recognizable MT if you’ve seen some of her other portraits.) But they certainly had created an iconic look, identifiable to the casual observer.
(BTW, I was v amused at Fritz complimenting MT on her complexion in the crack fic, ,because, Cahn, that’s another insult if you consider the Prussian ambassador wrote to Fritz she was ruining her face with all that outdoorsy stuff. (Remember the period ideal for female skin was soft, white and rosy, not tanned and wind-weathered!)