Richard III discussion

I assume this will suffice for Ikon and Jenn to continue nattering?

Oh, I don't know. We may need an entirely new group. There is a whole load of stuff about Ivan Grozny I have not mentioned. (A portrait painting of him, too.) Anyway, here is the painting of Boris:

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It is based on Boris Christoff in the title role of the opera.

Yikes, he's a scary dude. You and Jenn can always start yourself another group if you want..

I already have a Valois Burgundy Group. Doesn't see much traffic. ;)

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

The fellow above looks...somewhat...dubious.

I was just teasing, Misfit. About Boris - he was a good and decent ruler, one of the best Russia had, enlightened for his day. Thanks to people like Pushkin, he was maligned in much the same way as Richard. I have quite a tendresse for him. ;)

BTW: A full-length version of this painting with him holding a jeweled rod of office was destroyed when the tree fell on the house. It had a gold-leaf background in the style of religious icons.

If no one minds, I think I will not join anymore groups for a while. What with GR and LJ and personal correspondence, I am happily overwhelmed. LOL

And Jenn, Boris was a good guy, no matter what you have heard. Now Grozny ... well, he did propose to Elizabeth I. It would have served both of them right.

Ikon, you over at Live Journal? Send me your link if you want to be friends. I'm just getting into playing around with it.

Who is Grozny?

Ivan Grozny is Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV of Russia. He had health problems which made him the Terrible. He reigned 1533-1584.

This is me over at LJ:
http://kunstarniki.livejournal.com/

I am called kunstarniki over there. it is a Russian word for 'icon painter'. I am sure you see a theme developing. Do 'friend' me. I enjoy your company. ;)

Ah, I think I remember Ivan in one of the Lymond Chronicle books. He was quite terrible indeed :)

Is that what your handle means? I figured out the "Icon" aspect but didn't know what the second part was.

No problem about groups.

Russian history is outside my scope, so I hadn't realized who he was at the time and have no preconceived notions about his ability as a ruler.

People like to use the later appellation of "the Rash" for Charles. I believe the Dutch called him "the Industrious" and "the Bold" is how he's typically called.

Yep. It's Greek.

I got into Russian history because of the icon painting and my passion for Musssorgsky's opera about Boris. (At one time, I could sing the whole thing!)

It sounds like "Rash" was a proper epithet for Charles. I am not fully cognizant of his history, but it sounds as though he was inclined to go dashing off in all directions and take up more enthusiasms than one man could readily encompass. Hw strikes me as a one-man Renaissance in his interests.

The icon painting is amazing.

Rash is used by his detractors, though he tended to not listen to council and wanted things his own way. Definitely a force of nature. ;-)

Thanks Jenn, I did it years ago when I was still painting icons. i have one of Ivan IV which I will post if the conversation turns to him. it is in a more traditional iconic mode.

Aaaaaaah I love reading about Ivan IV. After my Queen Mary book, he's the next on my list of biographies.

(what can I say, I enjoy reading about maligned monarchs. :) -- Though in this case Ivan probably has every right to be maligned.)

He probably had epilepsy and that contributed to his somewhat erratic behaviour. He was very sorry after he killed the Tsarevich. My favourite story about him is that he sent a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth I of England. He felt they would be a perfect match and could rule most of Europe if not the known world.

Now, you want to read about a maligned Russian monarch - search out Boris Godunov. He really wanted to be a good ruler and did many good things. Literature and music did him in, much as Shakespeare condemned Richard.


Oh - here is Ivan Grozny as an icon:

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This is based on a re-creation of his face by a forensic artist who worked on the actual skull of Ivan. ;)

Well, Rocky and Bullwinkle naming their villain "Boris Badunov" probably didn't help. ;)

BTW, Conrad Veidt played a GREAT silent version of Ivan the Terrible. Really amazing.

(I'm gonna mention as many of my interests into this forum as I can! So far: Richard, Tudor, art history, Ivan IV, Silent films...now I only need to find a way to cram in Star Wars and Phantom of the Opera.)

I did a bunch of paintings of the Phantom. Heh!

There is a great Russian film in two parts dealing with Ivan. Directed by Eisenstein, music by Prokofiev, starring Nikolai Cherkassov. Glorious! There is some colour bits in the second part. Unfortunately, Stalin hated it and so Part III was never finished.

Yaaagh I need to see them!

I do not know if they are available on DVD. I have them on tape, from one of the labels which used to deal in art house films. If you want to look for them, the title is 'Ivan the Terrible'.

No no no. I need to see your paintings.

Oh. Sorry, I misunderstood. Tomorrow I'll send you an assortment via a personal message. Will that do? I am delighted somebody wants to see them. ;)

Misfit wrote: "Yikes, he's a scary dude. You and Jenn can always start yourself another group if you want.."

He is too scary for me! I might run just looking at him!

But he looks nothing like Charles. ;)

Hmmmm.... Star Wars.... okay...it's a reach but I think I have it. Many of the monarches were very well read in the classics (greek and roman history, the feats of Alexander the great, etc...), George Lucas was influenced by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. And George of course wrote Star Wars...and unfortunately came up with the Phantom Menace, which is totally unrelated to the Phantom of the Opera.