And I Loved Working W The Gold/red/blue Color Palette So Often Seen In Mosaics And Manuscripts - Blog Posts

princess saera targaryen, from a fresco in the sept of a motherhouse in king’s landing, commemorating an endowment by queen alysanne and daughters, c. 83 AC

my gorgeous commission by @shripscapi! take a peek under the cut for the historical references she reworked so beautifully.

i have always maintained targaryen fashion should be byzantine inspired, and that was my request to liesl. she works so brilliantly with historical costuming, and in her portraits of renaissance fashions captures the sense of a contemporary portrait - and that’s what i wanted here, the spirit of a real historical work of art. i sent her two images of mosaics of byzantine empresses, theodora from the basilica of san vitale in ravenna (left) and irene of hugary from the hagia sophia in constantinople (right). both commemorate donations to churches, and the foundation of a religious institution at the height of the realm’s prosperity under jaehaerys and alysanne’s rule and a demonstration of good will between crown and faith after the adoption of the doctrine of exceptionalism is something alysanne as queen consort absolutely might do.

as byzantine empresses reshaped the face of imperial constantinople as patrons of its religious and civic architecture, it is fun to imagine the continuing interactions of the targaryens shaping their capital city. the women are included in wider family groupings - imagine alysanne and alyssa and maegelle etc offscreen - communicating the female face of imperial/royal power. here is saera at 16, on the verge of being brutally discarded as incommensurate with that correct feminine image, as indeed not a few byzantine princesses were. exactly the vibe of a lovely and haunting historical document of a woman’s life in the snare of power i’ve encountered in many a museum or palace that i was going for, which makes the story of saera’s disgrace resonate so strongly.