Veronica Buckley Volgorde van de boeken (chronologisch)

Artworks speak to us. We must only listen, open ourselves to them. Then we can hear what they have to say. Specialists concentrate on styles and epochs, techniques and influences, but one can also look at these works very differently: as inspirations for highly personal observations, meditations and narratives. The Picture Gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum developed from the art collections of the House of Habsburg. Today it is one of the largest and most important of its kind in the world. The foundations of the collection were laid and its main emphases set in the 17th century: 16th-century Venetian painting (Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto), 17th-century Flemish painting (Peter Paul Rubens, Sir Anthony Van Dyck), Early Netherlandish painting (Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden) and German Renaissance painting (Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach). Among the other highlights in the Picture Gallery are its holdings of pictures by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, which are unique worldwide, as well as masterpieces by Vermeer, Rembrandt, Raphael, Caravaggio or Velázquez. Writer and historian Philipp Blom and his wife, the writer Veronica Buckley, have set off on numerous journeys of discovery through the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. In eight thematic tours they invite readers to cast a new gaze upon the collection.

Francoise d'Aubigne, born in a bleak provincial prison, her father a condemned murderer and traitor to the state, rose from the depths of poverty to life at the vortex of power at Versailles. Married at fifteen to a tragically disfigured and scandalously popular poet, in his salon Francoise encountered all the brilliant characters of the seventeenth century's glitterati. After her husband's death, she led the life of a merry widow in the colourful Marais quarter of Paris, before becoming governess to the King's growing brood of royal batards. This is the extraordinary story of one woman's daring journey from beggar-girl, West Indian colonist and salonniere to royal mistress and thence, in secret, to the compromised position of Louis' uncrowned Queen. Through the rags-to-riches tale of the maquise de Maintenon, Veronica Buckley reveals every layer of the vibrant and shocking world that was France in the age of Louis XIV.

Cristina divenne regina di Svezia a soli sei anni; curiosa, coraggiosa, intelligente, coltivò molteplici interessi ed ebbe amici importanti, tra cui il filosofo Cartesio. Convertitasi al cattolicesimo, nel 1654 abdicò e si trasferì nel Sud Europa, divenendo una delle più importanti figure della cultura romana. Figlia di un secolo caratterizzato da profondi cambiamenti, Cristina si trovò, a sua volta, a un bivio su questioni di religione, potere, politica e sesso. Considerata di volta in volta lesbica, prostituta, ermafrodito e atea, infranse ogni convenzione imposta alle donne del suo tempo per affermare il suo diritto a decidere e a seguire le proprie inclinazioni a prescindere dal ruolo e dal rango. In questa biografia, Veronica Buckley dipinge un ritratto a tutto tondo della sovrana colta e anticonformista, vulcanica e imprevedibile, che visse in prima persona tutte le inquietudini e le contraddizioni del suo tempo.

Podtitul: pohnuté osudy švédské panovnice Životopis švédské královny Kristýny zachycuje soukromý i veřejný život ženy, která proslula jako jedna z nejkontroverznějších evropských panovnic. Kristýna díky předčasné smrti svého otce Gustava Adolfa nastoupila na švédský trůn již v šesti letech. Brzy získala pověst velice zvláštní panovnice. Od samotného narození se vedly spekulace o její sexualitě a sexuální orientaci. Dívka se od mládí vyznačovala jistými maskulinními rysy v chování, názorech i vzhledu. Navíc odmítla typický ženský úděl - nevdala se, ba ani neporodila Švédsku následovníka. Svůj život zasvětila evropské politice, vědě, podporovala také umění. Chtěla ochutnat od všeho nového, co jí 17. století nabízelo. Ke svému dvoru pozvala mnoho učenců a vědců, mimojiné zde žil a zemřel slavný Descartes. Na druhou stranu dokázala být i tvrdá a krutá vůči těm, kteří upadli v nemilost. Nikdy se nezbavila dětinských vrtochů a rozmarů. Panování ji - na rozdíl zájmu o evropskou politiku - unavovalo. I proto se nakonec vzdala trůnu, přestoupila z luteránství ke katolicismu a uchýlila se pod ochranu papeže. Portrét královny Kristýny odhaluje kladné i záporné stránky této nevšední osobnosti. Je velmi vzdálen některým romantickým představám.

Queen Christina of Sweden emerges as a vibrant and controversial figure of the seventeenth century, driven by ambition and a thirst for adventure. After stepping away from her crown, she traverses Europe, indulging in extravagance and seeking a grander throne while creating chaos in her wake. Veronica Buckley's narrative masterfully captures this extraordinary woman's life, illuminating her role as an icon during a transformative era marked by significant shifts in religion, science, and societal norms.