Lost historical artefacts fall into two categories: permanently destroyed or temporarily forgotten. The original Anthonie Blocklandt van Montfoort master portrait of Countess Elizabeth Bathory created in 1580, was saved from looters by the portrait's relocation several times. War's consequences rendered it forgotten, until it surfaced at action two centuries later in 2014-15. I acquired the portrait because it is important to my family history. My ancestor's past intersects with the Bathorys, and of course Elizabeth. But do not presume my remark a pompous one! In some measure, Bathory history intersects with your ancestors, too.
A Little Portrait and ElizabethBathory.Org History
2014
An original, 1580, Blocklandt master "Portrait of a Lady" is consigned for auction at a renown art auction house.
The age, painter, and quality of the portrait had been assessed and authenticated by their historical art experts in London and New York.
Incredibly, pre-auction viewing achieves a past, faint, lifelong hope, realized.
The subject is identified as Elizabeth Bathory, but kept confidential by my private art expert and historian who assessed the work!
2015
Knowing the significance of the art, I purchase the portrait, and decide to launch a website to display the work.
Unoriginally, I name the website, "The Elizabeth Bathory Portrait."
This website domain, "elizabethbathory.org" is registered. Images of the portrait are taken, copyrighted, and registered.
"The Elizabeth Bathory Portrait" is launched in December.
2016
The first article by my good friend, concerning the specifics of the portrait is published on January 1st.
The article is, sensational, reproduced, with permission, in many publications around the world.!
By popular request, my good friend, agrees to write more articles. We also collaborate on writing Elizabeth Bathory's history.
Rekindling forgotten history is an arduous project. Even so, many more articles and images are published between then and 2021.
2016-Present
What a splendid journey it was, full of optimism, having met thousands of wonderful readers, worldwide!
But things changed between 2019 and 2021, for no other reason than ignorance and greed.
Besides the head-scratching pandemic response between 2019 and 2020, by 2021, content theft from this website is too much to bear. Theft explodes during the pandemic, in fact.
Shutting this site down is considered. Instead, we stop publishing digital content for security reasons, except for a single low resolution image of the portrait. And here we are. It is Saturday, September 30, 2023.
You are here because of the portrait or because you follow the Elizabeth Bathory genre of stories. Many visitors to this website, obviously, come to view the portrait out of curiosity. I don't believe they leave disappointed, but I do think they doubt the portrait's veracity, which is understandable. Many believe a particular fake is authentic - an extremely insultingly poor one at that! Their beliefs are not my concern. I am not obligated to disclose the details of the portrait, which is neither for sale, nor is my personal property part of any public institution. Besides, if I were to publish the portrait's details, which, in a perfect world I would love to do, some forger somewhere, will use that information to replicate the art. So, please, save your energy asking me about the portrait's details. However, I may publish articles which will answer many questions vis-à-vis historical actuality, if readers request them. The portrait's security is paramount, as is my privacy. There is no specific technical information about my portrait published, and this is intentional for privacy and security reasons, why the portrait images in the gallery are digitally altered versions of the original below.
The Original 1580 Elizabeth Bathory Portrait
But I will share a little information concerning the portrait's provenance. The portrait was moved and traded hands several times, but not as much as one might assume. As to why the 443-year-old Blocklandt portrait was moved from place to place since it was created, from The Netherlands, to Slovakia, Austria, and to France, that is lesser-known history which actually exists, but is hard to find. It is history for you to discover!
Elizabeth Bathory Portrait Provenance Through More Than Four Centuries
Meanwhile, I have that which matters to me most - my darling wife, children, Elizabeth, and our family dog - all, beautiful souls. Each time I walk by Elizabeth's portrait at home, I look at her, and she reminds me what could have been; what is; and what a privilege it was to be "alive," when creating a better world was possible. I assure you, the portrait is authentic, and it is even more superbly beautiful in real life. Please enjoy the images on this page as much as we at home, enjoy the real thing.
