Author: Claudia Carletti Camponeschi

  • Elizabeth of Austria: Stars Above the Self

    Elizabeth of Austria: Stars Above the Self

    Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73) Detail from the portrait of Queen Alexandra (1844-1925) when Princess of Wales. Signed and dated 1864 Oil on canvas | 162.6 x 114.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402351

    She did not wear them at the throat or the wrist. Elisabeth’s stars were scattered through her hair, elevated above the body — present to the eye, yet kept at a remove. Long before image hardened into myth, they marked a way of being seen without being possessed.

  • The Jewels She Wore: Princess Alexandra of Denmark

    The Jewels She Wore: Princess Alexandra of Denmark

    Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73) Detail from the portrait of Queen Alexandra (1844-1925) when Princess of Wales. Signed and dated 1864 Oil on canvas | 162.6 x 114.1 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402351

    Long before pearls would come to define her public image, this discreet brooch accompanied Princess Alexandra at the moment when becoming began.