#bernhardt

1900 Sarah Bernhardt in character as Theodora the Empress of Byzantium (Empress Theodora) in "Theodora: A Drama in Five Acts and Eight Tableau" (1885) by Victorien Sardou. Premiered: Theatre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, France. 

Sardou's enthusiasm for historical authenticity was shared by his star. Weeks before ordering her costumes, she journed to Ravenna and stood long hours in the Church of San Vitale studying the magnificent mosaics with their startling portraits of Theodora and Justinian staring menacingly forth from barbaric gold. She made sketches of every robe, every fold, every detail or ornamentation. When she returned to Paris she had completed in detail a dressmaker's design for each outfit, as well as those for her stage jeweller, even to that death-dealing hairpin. Her wardrobe along cost more than the average production. Her costumer figured out that toiling in her work rooms she and her assistants had sewn on by hand more than 4,500 'gems'. (x)

I’ve had the privilege of being an artist in the Fe3h rarepair zine, The lost Ballroom of Gold! ( @fe3hrarepairmaskzine​ )

Here’s a preview of my piece! Fun fact, Bernadetta’s mask took around 1/3 of the total drawing time (around 2 hours on just the mask), since I thought cross hatching the entire thing would be a good idea ;-;

seriously although I’m happy with how it looks, it literally took like 3 hours help sclgh

The Delineator, Vol LII, No 3, September 1898