Tag: answered

3 assumptions: you like tea, are more of a cat person, & can read/understand more than one language (watch me be completely wrong lol)

First two are totally true, third is kind of true? I can read maybe…idk…1st grade level Spanish shshsh and I understand maybe a bit more if I hear it spoken. Due to a combination of things, most of which I can’t really take credit for: one high school class, living in Southern California for a few years, taking a weekly group class (like…twas hosted at a cafe), watching a lot of telenovelas etc. 

I fell into a post in which you reported the account of a venetian ambassador who found Henry VIII beautiful… And like I understand that les goûts et les couleurs… But it seems it was quite a frequent description (at least in his youth) and yes the guy was tall, athletic and had all the right colorings… But I can’t be the only one noticing that he had a super flat face (la face plate)… Am I missing an historical context about flat face here?

Hm…I don’t particularly notice that, honestly? His most attractive portrait is probably this one. 

Idw to sound blunt but also like…portraits weren’t like…photographs? They were likenesses. 

Idk about historical context re: flat features; but re: misogyny and beauty standards…Queen Consorts were expected to be models of beauty. When they did not meet that exacting standard, it was commented on rather harshly. Kings, however, were not expected to be so– so when they were handsome, the praise was fulsome and lavish– this was viewed as a bonus; not a requirement. We see this in ‘a great deal handsomer than the King of France’, etc…

The comments COA’s appearance garnered vs. Henry’s are demonstrative of how ambassadors tended to be more critical of the appearance of wives than husbands:

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Personal charisma also shouldn’t be discounted here– it certainly has an effect on whether or not we view someone as physically attractive, and in context the same secretary says of Henry:

The ambassador made a fine and skillful oration, to which his Majesty listened to with the utmost attention, standing immoveable under the canopy; with his eyes always fixed on the ambassador’s eyes and countenance, so that he seemed very much delighted with him and fluent discourse.

Quite simply, it seems that Henry was a delightful person to converse with; these were the reports given by several men that were not his subjects, and who were not praising him directly (so have no reason to exaggerate or lie), rather writing to their home country with the goal of writing as accurate and expressive an account as possible:

He is affable and gracious, harms no one, does not covet his neighbour’s goods, and is satisfied with his own dominion, having often said to me, ‘Sir Ambassador, we want all potentates to content themselves with their own territories; we are satisfied with this island of ours.’ He seems extremely desirous of peace. 

So…I don’t believe every single person found him to be incredibly handsome as that’s not realistic (everyone has different personal judgement of beauty, and as you said to each their own)– but he seems to have been a person, in his youth, of infectious enthusiasm, energy and laughter…and I think others’ impressions of his personality possibly colored their opinions of his appearance as well. 

I love your blog Alice! who are some of your favourite blogs? I want to follow some more

oh, alicehoffmans is just my username! (and my favorite author) thank you, tho!

hmm let’s see…i have many (if you want specifically history blogs or fashion/aesthetic or w/e let me know);

@beau–brummell @catherinedefrance  @cesareeborgia @essequamvideri24 @glorianas @grand-duchessa @thefairfleming @marieduplessis @lucreziaborgia @queenbessofyork @margarettudor @semper-exdem @ourgraciousqueen @wildandwhirlingwords @history-be-written @fyeahanneboleyn @mataestrellas @maharanis @quillington @marriageandthecrown @buffyboleyn @towyns @aethelfleds @lordlykisses @goodqueenejess @feuillesmortes @felicedellarovere

It was very hard to narrow it down, but my all time favorite mckosem dress is her purple embroidered one from season 2. I absolutely detest Farya’s pink napkin dress. It’s the biggest fashion blunder that show has ever made. Don’t @ me.

it’s such a good look?? it reminds me of if they did like a live action version of 20th cent. fox’s anastasia, shshsh……very imperial/russian looking but i lov. 8/10

2/10 for pink napkin dress !! use it is a bib. 

my least favorite dresses in the tudors was anne’s off-the-shoulder old curtain dress (episode 3 I think?) as well as her “perseverance” costume (henry’s costume was awful as well lol) and my favorites are the red one she wears while being named marquess of pembroke and the yellow one she wears in the “edge of a golden world” scene

i have now realized i have rated none of these, even tho i said i was going to in original post (ADHD, anyone??) so….

off-the-shoulder pink curtain dress? the one she’s wearing when she’s lying on the grass and when she shows george the necklace henry got her? i actually like fjdakshfjdshfasdhf; weird as the sleeves are i just…idk like it…..idk if anyone but nat could pull it off but imo it was a look. i actually hate the gold dress with the weird material (like…scrunched and dots all over it?? what’s that) she’s wearing in the dream sequence of s1 way more… i’d give 6/10. 

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actually love the perseverance look (and the mask!), just not as a 16th cent look…way more apt for a 20th/21st century masquerade ball type deal:

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wolf hall’s version of costumes at the chateau vert pageant was much more accurate. 2/10 for historic accuracy, 7/10 for my own personal taste re: the tudors looks shshsh…

red one i would rate 8/10 (just for accuracy…she was ‘in her hair’ at the marquess of pembroke titling ceremony, i.e. her hair was down not up):

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yellow gown look i’d say 9/10….would have loved to see a French hood in yellow that matched rather than a headband, is my one caveat.