I’m into collecting antique jewelry and I’ve seen many antique miniatures with this woman on them and have been wondering who she might be. The pieces are usually from the late 1800’s. Is she perhaps a famous actress or singer from back then? Or just some generic schmoe-ette who ended up on jewelry of the day? Any ideas, Dopers?
Do you know which side of the Atlantic the jewelry is from orginally?
No, I’m afraid not. Couldn’t even take a guess - most of them have been marked 14k without any other hallmarks.
My guess would be that the portrait is of Jenny Lind, aka “The Swedish Nightingale”. Her American tour, sponsored by P.T. Barnum, apparently sparked “Lindomania” - her face and/or name were attached to practically anything that could possibly be connected to her.
This is what Jenny Lind looks like on the Swedish 50-kronor bill, and has a slight resemblance to the picture you linked to. (To illustrate the difference between how she looked in photos and how she was depicted)
Hmmm, there is a resemblance - you may be right. Clearly some artistic liberties were taken and she was prettied up a bit…
Thanks!
Well that Lind person doesn’t appear to have shoulders the size of hams, so it can’t be her.
The hams were attached in the painting studio, didn’t you know?
ETA: As in the painter had hams hanging on the wall for attaching to customers when they posed for the pic… err… well it was funny in my head.
So, did the artist bill himself as a Painter of Hams[sup]TM[/sup]?
Seriously, that lady in the jewlery looks to be proportioned like those Goon things from the later Popeye cartoons.
Those aren’t her arms, they’re puff sleeves. Very fashionable for the era.
ETA: Well, you knew those weren’t her actual arms, of course. Just saying it’s a fashion garment and not the painter’s ineptitude.
Dayum! She was a hottie! I need a time machine!
You can make do with her modern-day equivalent.
That’s okay, I’ll wait for someone to invent the time machine.
Maria Theresa?
Bloody hell jjimm that link is one ugly bird
Just seeing the OP’s photo and without reading any other posts, I also guessed Jenny Lind (who inspired incredible, Beatles-esque adulation during her American tour), although it might just be a nonfamous woman whom none of us have every heard of, painted as a family’s, husband’s or lover’s keepsake.
Boondock Saints was a fine film, but Willem Defoe needs to stop dressing up in drag now.
Is so, she must have had a damn big family* because I’ve seen several of them. Always the same pose with some variation of dress coloring.
*Perhaps the Smithfield Ham family.
**The Smithfield Ham family also produced a surprising number of children, all of whom were depressed and excreted large, glycerin tears. This made them popular models for those painters who showed up when all the women were taken.
The men of the family are reported to all have been pipe-smoking fishermen.