What did Marie Antoinette Really Look Like? Her Portraits and Death Mask Brought to Life.
The “French Court” Version of Marie.
A more casual Marie, in her Garden.
Marie Antoinette is one of my all time favorite subjects. I love the modern version I created of her using one of her official portraits, but I wanted to create some in-her-own-time images that use more of her real-life appearance rather than the stylized version. It’s pretty obvious how stylized 18th century French portraits are; the huge eyes, tiny noses, and pinched lips. Full video is now up on YouTube: Royalty Now Studios.
There is actually a death mask of Marie taken soon after her execution. It was taken by a wax worker whose name you probably recognize: Marie Tussaud. Tussaud got her start during the French Revolution, taking masks of the dead as a sort of real-time commentary on what was going on. Marie was in her late thirties when she was executed, and I’m sure completely worn down by the stress of the revolution. I wanted to combine the features of the death mask with those of the portraits. She still had the same downturned blue eyes, but they look more normal in proportion. Her nose is a bit more hooked in real life than in the portraits, and her lips are more flat, without the pinched, stylized look of the lips in the paintings.
Death mask of Marie Antoinette.