Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II and the Stollenian Coat of Arms

Here’s a recently finished portrait of the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, current ruler of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. Now, it’s said that the Grand Duke wished to be portrayed wearing his beloved lobster costume, complete with various orders of merit pinned to his chest. However the artist commissioned to paint Irwin-Amadeus, one Herr Maleri, felt that it might be better to portray the slightly misguided grand duke along more conventional lines. Hence the rather typical mid-eighteenth century portraiture we see before us here.

This is also a good time to offer some explanation behind the grand ducal standard posted below. The eagle-eyed among you will note that the red and white lion in the center of the standard is the familiar Hessian lion. In fact, the Stollenian dynasty descends from the same family that rules Hesse-Kassel. Stollen’s Irwin-Amadeus II is indeed a very distant cousin of Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel since 1760.

Various second, third, and subsequent sons of the Hessian dynasty were involved in the northern crusades of the middle ages, under the auspices of Teutonic Knights, which moved eastward to “Christianize” the peoples of Northeastern Europe, leading to the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Stollen in 1230 A. D. Grand Duke Konrad- Albrecht I was first ruler of Stollen, and he was Irwin-Amadeus’s direct ancestor. The extended royal family of Stollen also has ties to the ruling houses of Denmark and Sweden besides Hesse-Kassel.

The royal colors of Stollen are a mid- to light blue and orange. Both are part of the grand ducal standard. These same colors are also seen frequently in the uniforms and battle flags of Stollen’s troops, for example the orange facings of the 2^nd (Von Laurenz) Musketeers or the light blue coats of the Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja’s Own) Grenadiers, as well as the corner vents of that regiment’s standard. Ok, now I’ve got to get back into the painting mode and get going with that 80+ figure regiment of Revell plastic Austrian grenadiers.

The Eventual Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment. . .

The Anhalt-Zerbst regiment musters in the drill square to sort themselves into platoons and companies during the coming weeks Fall maneuvers if you will. A large dose of real life the last few days with the start of classes next Monday, various preparatory meetings, and finishing up a few other things this week. But, I managed to sort out 60 or so Minden Austrian infantry from the pile and get 'em stuck to temporary painting bases. Must carefully drill out the hands of several NCOs for flagpoles and pole arms this weekend before the usual basecoat. I'm thinking of mixing the usual white gesso with the usual light gray to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. Applying both base- and undercoat in one fell swoop as my grandmother used to say. In the meantime, the recently finished squadron of Saxon cuirassiers has been placed carefully in one of the clear acrylic boxes on my shelves until I have the suitable flag to affix. -- Sto...

Presenting the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere!!!

Here they are, with the rearmost nine figures still drying, three squadrons of the Anspach-Bayreuth Kuirassiere, now in the service of the Grand Duchy of Stollen. And now, it's onto that artillery!

And It's the End of September!!!

Saxony's Ploetz Cuirassiers, an illustration lifted from the Kronoskaf website, which has thus far guided my spectacularly glacial painting of 30 28mm Eureka Saxon cuirassiers purchased all the way back in October 2016. A gray, cool Saturday here in Mid-Michigan with rain in the forecast. The Grand Duchess is away at a conference, so it's just "The Boys" here at home. The Young Master (almost 15) has retreated to his room for something or other following breakfast while I have stolen back down here to Zum Stollenkeller (masquerading as my office) with a second mug of coffee and both cats comfortably ensconced nearby. Enjoying the late morning and still in my pajamas! Not much planned for today beyond designing a couple of promotional flyers for workshops my department is presenting (small parties we will throw?) in October and November. With maybe a bit of on the next podcast script. More important, I am toying with the idea of returning for an hour or...

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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