Monday, March 17, 2008

Portrait of Madame Royale

Thérèse slowly lifted her veil, revealing her penetrating gaze, which flickered from sapphire to agate according to the light, deep set in classic features like a stern Athena. It was a face in which energy strove with sorrow, like fire with rain. With the weather-beaten complexion of one who spends hours a day in the open air, her countenance was more noble than beautiful. The bitter droop of the mouth, set in the stubborn Hapsburg jaw, seemed to have put every hint of beauty to flight, yet one felt compelled to search for it in fascinated futility when gazing upon her.

~
from Madame Royale by Elena Maria Vidal
Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France, the Duchesse d'Angoulême, around 1815. Share