Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 19

[cahn]

Yuletide nominations:

18th Century CE Federician RPF
Maria Theresia | Maria Theresa of Austria
Voltaire
Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great
Ernst Ahasverus von Lehndorff
Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Anna Amalie von Preußen | Anna Amalia of Prussia (1723-1787)
Catherine II of Russia
Hans Hermann von Katte
Peter Karl Christoph von Keith
Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf
August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)

Circle of Voltaire RPF
Emilie du Chatelet
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson (Madame de Pompadour)
John Hervey (1696-1743)
Marie Louise Mignot Denis
Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu
Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis
Armand de Vignerot du Plessis de Richelieu (1696-1788)
Francesco Algarotti

Comments

Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

!!!!

An artist! In our fandom!

And Wilhelmine in a uniform, because Fiat Justitia was amazing :DD

OMG, selenak, fanart! This SO AWESOME.

Are there any descriptions of the dogs, apart from the breed? If there aren't, I'll just do whatever with their fur, but it might be fun to make them "recognizable" :D

30 minutes later...

Though I know of a number of artistic depictions of Old Fritz with his greyhounds, including the one in my icon, which is my absolute favorite depiction of Fritz, I can't find any that's contemporary. The famous group portrait by Pesne of bb!Fritz with a drum, Wilhelmine, and that poor black kid in the back with the silver collar, shows what looks like a greyhound to me, but obviously it's not going to be one of the ones he had an as adult.

Biche's Wikipedia article says she was described as white, but it's citing a 19th century source that I don't know if it's reliable, and the article also cites some sources that I know *aren't* reliable, so who knows.

selenak might know a contemporary one off the top of her head that I'm not thinking of.

Regardless, I look forward to whatever you come up with.

Re: Fanart

[prinzsorgenfrei]

Since Wikipedia says that Fritz had Biche painted in the concert room of Sanssouci, I attempted to find a good photo of the picture in question and I did! 1747 would fit, But Wiki quotes the Tagesspiegel and I don't know where they got it from, so I might never know whether this is actually Biche or just a random dog... Ah well, I'll see how it works out :D Digital art is forgiving, so I can just change the colours later if we unearth more information.

That statue is amazing! I've been staring at it for ten minutes, it's SO COOL :DD Gotta remember that one, maybe I can use it for a paper at some point. Do you know who the artist is? I tried googling it, but I couldn't find anything so far

Re: Fanart

[selenak]

First of all, I'm thrilled and awed at the same time that you drew Wilhelmine in a uniform inspired by Fiat Justitia, and would beg for a link, so I can link it with my story in turn!

Secondly: sorry, can't recall a Biche description that mentios fur collar. But chances are the Tagespiegel is right re: the painting showing Biche, because Wilhelmine did the same thing with Folichon at the Eremitage in Bayreuth (not just in the famous portrait with her which Fritz later used at the basic for the memorial statue; she also had Folichon included in a roof painting depicting the story of Chilonis in her audience room, see here.

Also, the sheer amount of female nudity in the concert room painting reminds me of my Dad during our recent Sanssouci visit eyeing all the female nudes and going "Are you sure he was gay?" Voltaire, who had no doubts in this regard, about Fritz' taste in interior decor as displayed at Sanssouci in the paintings: The subject was totally Priapian. Turtles billing, young men in the embraces of young women, nymphs beneath satyrs, cupids at lascivious sperts, people fainting with desire at beholding them, and rams and goats at similar pastimes. The supper was frequently seasononed with the same kind of philosophy; and any person who had heard the discourse, and looked at this picture, would have supposed they had caught the Seven Sages of Greece in a brothel.

Re: Fanart

[prinzsorgenfrei]

I really loved the fic, I'll probably draw a proper thing eventually, until then the sketch I made is here. It's nothing grand or anything, but I hope you like it :D

I really need to go to Bayreuth at some point (when Cologne's covid reproduction rate is somewhat lower than 84...), the pictures on the website look gorgeous! And I'll definitely caption every future picture of Sanssouci as "the prettiest greek brothel you'll find in Brandenburg", this quote is great :'D

My plans for today were cancelled and thus I didn't have my friend to force to help with pose references for the dog picture, but I sketched Fredersdorf onto the canvas I got! I am happy to announce that the sketch is actually looking pretty good, which is somewhat frustrating since I spent six episodes of the X-Files painstakingly drawing Katte with the grid method to get everything right and he still doesn't look as close to the original as my 20 minute Fredersdorf sketch. To be fair, the new canvas is about a fourth the size of the other one, that makes it a little easier :'D Though now I am afraid to start mixing paint because I really don't want to ruin this sketch ._.

Re: Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

This is all SOOO GREEEAT!

Re: Fanart

[selenak]

*claps hands*

Oh, I love it! And have added a link in the footnote of my story.

Re: Fanart

[cahn]

Oh MAAAAAN, this is so great! I am really digging her in men's clothes :D That coat! is the BEST. I am so into her with a cravat and boots and her hair subtly different, a little more severe and less flowery.

Also illustration of my awesome giftfic, this is sooooo great :DDDD

Ooooh, this makes me think, what about Maria Theresia doing her Queen of Hungary coronation on horseback with a sword :D (I guess she wouldn't be in men's clothing / uniform but, like, if you want to AU it for that I would Not Complain :D )

(obviously you don't have to do any of my suggestions, I'm just really really excited about your art :D )

Re: Fanart

[prinzsorgenfrei]

Aaah, thank you! :DD

Keep suggesting as many things as you want, honestly, I'm in a super artsy mood at the moment :D Might be because I am procrastinating on studying, but shhh...

I didn't dare to touch Fredersdorf with paint yet. I'll go to my workplace tomorrow and ask my boss and my coworker for advice, they might have a good idea as to whether I should use my acrylic paint or just buy oils ^^ It's gonna be great. Two flat pop art pieces of Fritz and Katte looking meh and a glossy thing of pretty boy Fredersdorf in the middle :'D

In the meantime I sketched out Fritz and his dogs! Well, so far it's Fritz and 2.5 dogs, dog 3 is in the middle of being constructed. I'm aiming for at least five dogs and a full background before Tuesday because that's when I'm going to my parents' place where I don't have my digital supplies. I don't usually draw animals, so the dogs might end up looking like strange giraffes, but it's going somewhere :'D Though I'll have to equalize the level of detail between Fritz and the dogs somehow, it's currently VERY obvious which one is within my artistic comfort zone.

Re: Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

Utterly unartistic me is in total awe. My "fanart" consists of making maps and captioning screenshots!

Strange giraffes sounds great to me! As long as they're *Fritz's* strange giraffes, I'll be happy. :D

Re: Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

Hee, I thought of your father when I saw that picture!

Re: Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

Since Wikipedia says that Fritz had Biche painted in the concert room of Sanssouci

Good catch! I was in a hurry (to get back to German studies ;)), so I didn't read the article, just skimmed looking for physical descriptions.

Digital art is forgiving, so I can just change the colours later if we unearth more information.

Hee, I see you are like us! AO3 is also forgiving, and cahn and I periodically fix small historical points. You can't wait until you know everything there is to know before you start your creative work--at some point you just have to take the leap!

That statue is amazing! I've been staring at it for ten minutes, it's SO COOL :DD Gotta remember that one, maybe I can use it for a paper at some point

I knoooow, I looooove it.

Do you know who the artist is? I tried googling it, but I couldn't find anything so far

I don't. I may have found it back when I first tracked down this statue for my icon, but I didn't find it during a quick google yesterday.

Re: Fanart

[felis]

Harro Magnussen: Der Philosoph von Sanssouci in seinen letzten Stunden (wiki, which says the marble version from 1898 is missing since WWII, but two plaster (?) ones from 1890 still exist) - the picture you linked to definitely has the wrong title.

Re: Fanart

[selenak]

Now who's a detective? Wow. I see Wiki has another picture with a slightly different angle, this one correctly titled; it also says this copy is in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin:

Re: Fanart

[prinzsorgenfrei]

The art history picture archive my university uses produced yet another angle of the copy in Berlin :D
Can't link to it though, you'd need a login... We get a better look at the chair and the sleeping dog under it. It also supplied the size of this thing, at least I can tell you that :'D It's 70cm high and 75cm wide (measured from the back of the chair to the tip of his shoes I assume). Somehow that's way smaller than I thought. They took the image from "Ethos und Pathos - Die Berliner Bildhauerschule 1786-1914"

Re: Fanart

[felis]

This one possibly?

And then there are these pictures of the Burg Hohenzollern copy.

Re: Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

Now who's a detective?

More detectives + more readers + an artist = MOAR FUN. \o/ (I hope Detective gambitten comes back someday.)

There are a few angles that I've seen, e.g. this one and this one (also with the wrong title); I merely picked my favorite the first time, not knowing there was going to be such a rush! :)

Re: Fanart

[gambitten]

mildred_of_midgard: I hope Detective gambitten comes back someday.

Guess who's back. Back again. ;)

My exams (for this year) are done! I'll be back to contributing on the weekends! But I've got some really good stuff to share today (not a weekend), which I'll get around to formatting in a big post.

Re: Fanart

[cahn]

gambitten!! You're back!! :DDDDDD

okay, gotta go to work now, just wanted to say that :) Looking forward to your big post!

Re: Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

Welcome back! I know I said this in the other thread, but it bears repeating. I always love your write-ups! I also laughed when the title of your comment changed from "more things we should be reading" to "more things we should be reading, part 1." :P :D

Re: Fanart

[prinzsorgenfrei]

!!!
Thank you so much, this helps me immensely!

Re: Fanart

[mildred_of_midgard]

Thank you! That explains why it's so difficult to google, haha.