Awkward Family Photos But Its Crown Prince Rudolf Of Austria-Hungary And Wilhelm II Of Prussia.

Awkward family photos but it’s Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary and Wilhelm II of Prussia.

Thank you so much for your commentary, @josefavomjaaga! 🙏

I see… The waring parties at Austrian court strike again!

Klemens used the trump card he thought out at the moment but his actions couldn’t have passed unnoticed by others, as they tried to prevent his “cruel deeds” from coming to life. X)

Good time of day to you, ladies and gentlemen!

So, I made a promise in April that I never kept because of how insecure I felt about it for a long period of time. However, now I’m more than knowledgeable in terms of the subject and ready to full fill with immense pleasure that old pledge of mine. ✨

This post is dedicated to @microcosme11 and @usergreenpixel, since you’ve shown great interest in my proposition in the first place. :)

It all started with the discovery of a film “Hundert Tage” released in the year 1935. Its name speaks for itself as the movie covers Napoleon’s famous return from Elba in 1815 up to the battle of Waterloo. What’s fairly surprising is that Joseph Fouché, notorious ex-minister of police with many other regalia earned through the years of serving many masters, played a significant role in the plot (as he did in real life), despite usually having a somewhat ghostly presence in other pieces of Napoleonic media. In the “Hundert Tage” he is more than an active political player portrayed by Gustaf Gründgens, prominent German theater and film actor with his background being too controversial to ever make a non-biased sense of…

Anyhow, the thing is: the impersonation of Fouché wasn’t the first “Napoleonic” role Gründgens ever tried on during his artistic career. Exactly a year before that another film of Austrian (!) production was made where he starred in a role which suits his appearance and play style so well that I’m still blown away by such an impeccable choice.

The original title of the film is “So Endete eine Liebe” (1934) and it deals with the tragic story of erzherzogin Marie Louise, future wife of emperor Napoleon, being separated from her true love for the sake of an advantageous marriage and political alliance. The film cast is mainly Austro-German with two leading performers being Willi Forst, one of the most prominent Austrian actors in the 20th century, playing archduke Franz von Modena, and fore mentioned Gustaf Gründgens, an actor who was also born in the Westphalian region of Germany, playing… Klemens von Metternich in all his mischievous glory. 💅✨

The film itself is not friendly to people who aren’t ready to face the complexity of Habsburg’s incest-flavoured dramas at their finest (I myself wasn’t aware of the infatuation that Marie-Louise had for her uncle, if it ever took place at all [and I’m too lazy to check any decent biography about her to find out what did happen exactly]). BUT, but Gründgens’ Metternich is something else.

With due awareness and respect. 🧎‍♂️

This role was made for him, no doubt: even the film and its actors show appreciation for his grace at the first opportunity given. 😁

Pride Month is inevitably coming to an end and it’s a real shame that I was unable to make any artistic input during this wonderful time of the year. 🏳️‍🌈

The only thing I can contribute at last is this drawing which is three months old already but I always struggle with sharing historical ship-content on this account, as it seems inappropriate in a way. 'Cause you know: all the fascinating/gorgeous/serious/funny historical stuff and then that…

It doesn’t really stop me from loving various Napoleonic rare-pairs with all my heart nonetheless. 😔🤲❤️

Disclaimer: Most of historical characters featured on such arts were undoubtedly straight, had wives, kids, mistresses, etc. But ship-dynamic is very real - as always. ✨

Annual visit to the Borodino field was quite pleasant this year because of extremely mild weather - with the sole exception of a day, when it was raining cats and dogs…

However, unfortunate circumstances sometimes have a bright side too. In this case the rain in the afternoon caused thick fog to appear at dusk which turned the whole landscape into a majestic dream. 🌅

Blücher: Name one bad decision I’ve made in the past week. Schwarzenberg: Would you like the list to be organized by date, location or amount of people injured?

Hamlet starring Gustaf Gründgens

Gründgens was the first German actor to show Hamlet as a warrior and fighter, rather than as an indecisive little boy. I like it.