Reveals how portraits of Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898), wife of Habsburg Emperor Francis Joseph I, transformed monarchs from divinely appointed sovereigns to public personalities whose daily lives were consumed by spectators.
The Celebrity Monarch argues that portraits of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (1837-1898) shaped both modern female portraiture and celebrity. Close study of portraits of Elisabeth, renowned as the most beautiful woman in Europe, along with her private collection of celebrity photography reveals her agency in shaping her own representation and the significance of her construction for modern Viennese artists and the emerging phenomenon of celebrity.