Beautiful Women in History: Uta Von Naumberg
By Glinda
Take a REALLY good look at this woman. She looks familiar, does she not?
You’ve seen her before, somewhere. But you just can’t quite place it.
I’ll tell you where you’ve seen her before after the jump, and I promise you will do the classic forehead smack.
Meet the inspiration for Snow White’s beautiful evil queen, Uta von Naumberg!
Her real name was Uta von Ballenstedt, and her statue resides in the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Naumberg, Germany.
Her likeness was carved because she and her husband were two of the founding members of the Cathedral, and an uknown artist dubbed “the master of Naumberg” carved their statues to honor their contribution to the Church. If this is indeed true to her likeness and “the master” didn’t give her the Middle Age version of Photoshop, then Uta was indeed the fairest in all the land.
She was considered one of the most beautiful women of the German Middle Ages, but her reputation didn’t really take off until the advent of modern photography. I’ve taken more than my fair share of art history classes, but I had never heard of or seen the real Uta before.
Then came Walt Disney, and of course, now you know exactly where you’ve seen her, right down to the raised collar on her cape, er, cloak, er, whatever that particular item of clothing happens to be.
I wonder if she would be annoyed, though, that she will forever be associated with a character known as one of the most vengeful in animated history?
