In history there were many interesting and egregious beauties, but Lola Montes stands out among them. She was characterised by a frenzied temperament, disregard for the old moral codes, and for her life has committed many strange and outrageous for all "decent" citizens. But she gained scandalous fame, and her portraits were written by many famous artists - everyone wanted to capture such an extraordinary person, besides a real beauty. We will talk about the unusual life of Lola Montes and her portraits in this article.
Josef Karl Stieler. Lola Montes. 1847.
Montes was born in 1821. Her father was a Scottish officer and travelled all over the world on duty. In her early childhood Lola lived with her parents in India, but her father died and her mother returned home to Scotland and remarried. Perhaps all this influenced the character of the girl - she was strange, stubborn and extremely willful, and when she reached adolescence, she became very hot-tempered. Her parents got fed up with it all and put her in a local boarding school.
Josef Hagel. Lola Montes. Miniature. Before 1837.
However, she did not stay there for long and ran away, and at the age of 16 she married the first handsome officer Thomas James, the young beauty had no shortage of suitors, and went with him to India. But the fate of her mother Montes did not repeat - was not the kind of girl to be content with the life of a respectable officer's wife.
Jules Laure. Portrait of Lola Montes
Soon she left her husband, and to have something to earn a living and not to depend entirely on men learnt to dance as a real Spanish dancer, learned Spanish, took a sound pseudonym Lola Montes and went to conquer England. True, in England, she was quickly unravelled, realised that she is no Spanish, but Montes is not too upset - moved to Paris, and then began to travel to all major cities. Not to say that she danced particularly well, but willingly showed her slender legs, opened the accurate shoulders, because the public went to watch her performances willingly.
Lola Montes as Mariquita in the ballet Carnival of Seville.
And the fun life began. Scandals and conflicts with the police, defiant epatage - Montes often walked around in a man's suit and with a whip, which willingly used in the case against overly obsessive fans and passionate novels with prominent representatives of the Parisian bohemians. There was even talk of Alexander Dumas, and critic Alexander Dujarie even fell victim to his fatal passion - he was shot in a duel journalist Rosemond de Beauvallon. Montes had to hastily wind up all business in Paris and move to Bavaria, where an even more scandalous story took place.
Josef Karl Stieler. Marquise Marianne Florenzi.
It all started when German King Ludwig I conceived the idea of creating a "gallery of beauties" and ordered the artist Joseph Carl Stihler to paint 36 portraits of "ideal girls". They did not have to be noble, the main thing - that very beautiful. However, all the girls in the portraits met Ludwig I's tastes - brunettes with delicate facial features.
Josef Karl Stieler. Nanette Kaula, daughter of a banker and the head of Munich's Jewish community.
Montes was just like that, and in the portrait, although she looks relatively modest compared to other beautiful aristocrats in open dresses with deep cleavage and bare shoulders in fact could give any of them a hundred points ahead.
Josef Karl Stieler. Lola Montes. 1847.
Montes wanted to dance at the local theatre, but was refused. However, she was a determined lady, and having learnt that Ludwig I was a patron of the arts, she managed to gain an audience with him.
Josef Carl Stihler. King Ludwig I of Bavaria in coronation regalia
She made a request to dance, and when the king, impressed by her perfect form, asked if she wore a corset, she replied that she did not, and to prove her point, she cut open her dress with a knife, allowing the king to admire her figure. Ludwig I, of course, allowed her to dance in the theatre, and at the same time made her his favourite and mistress. They met almost daily, the king appointed her a solid content and even granted the title of Countess. Indeed, what is allowed to pretty girls, no one else is allowed.
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