The Naked Vetsera

In the Hofmobiliendepot Museum in Vienna there is a naked portrait of Mary Vetsera, in a standing pose, back to the viewer, by an unknown artist, dating from 1888. Curiously, the head is an exact replica of one of the carte de visite profile shots made of Mary during the same year. One could almost say that the painting is a bit of a 'cut and paste job'. 
The artist may have added her likeness at the last minute because she was the most talked about woman in Vienna and he is trying to cash in on the notoriety of the young Baroness. It looks very like a life study of a studio model with Mary's head attached. Perhaps Marie Larisch was behind this commission, in her capacity as Mary's confidante and PR woman. Larisch did 'plant' Mary directly in Rudolf's path in order to wring favours (ie: money hand-outs) from the Crown Prince (her ex-lover) who was himself heavily in debt most of the time.
The Hofmobiliendepot is a bit coy about the provenance of this canvas and exactly when it was acquired for the collection. However, one has doubts as to whether Rudolf would have had the brass neck to acquire such a large painting as this and hang it in his private apartments at the Hofburg. The following sketch is my spin on it. In the original, there is no setting, just a dark void and Mary has some kind of diaphanous drape covering most of her left forearm. One suspects the unknown artist was not very good at painting hands. Also, the lower legs and the feet are painted rather clumsily, as if the artist had got a little bored once he'd reached those extremities. Anyway, in my version, as well as much better calves and feet, I've given her a boudoir setting. She is holding a feathered fan and has an Olympia-style* bangle on her left arm and I've put in her favourite crescent hair decoration. Anyway, I don't want to attract too many dirty old men in gaberdene macs to this blog (ahem, but I don't mind the odd one, as I'd like some readers, lol.) Anyhow, I have a feeling that Mary has been a magnet for gents of a certain age throughout the decades of her posthumous fame, so it's all grist to the mill. This image does deserve attention as a rather intriguing 'puzzle' picture, rarely exhibited (but it is on Google images if you look hard enough.)
Mary as a fully formed Mittel-European 'pin-up' of the day, leaving very little to the imagination!

"Err, it's a bit bum-sexy, isn't it?" (with apologies to Armstrong and Miller!)

There was a lot of  comment made at the time about Mary's physical type and how well-endowed she was for a teenager. However I feel that the unknown artist may have exaggerated her 'embonpoint' somewhat.

I recently came across a photo of Mila Kunis. Will someone please cast her as Mary Vetsera before it's too late?! She has the look; no doubt about that. The British actress Zoe Tapper could run as her second, but Mila is the No 1 girl for the job in my book. There have been some pretty inept castings of MV in the past (including a blonde Catherine Deneuve for gawd sakes!)

In photographs, Mary's 'little French bulldog' features stare out at me and I wonder why she was deemed to be so attractive. The body may have been mature, but in the face betrays the gaucheness of the child. I think Mila would meld these characteristics so well, she'd be dynamite; but please don't ask me who should be cast as her Rudolf!


*I refer of course, to Olympia in Manet's painting of the same name...