Last week you found the shocking pink Victorian well…shocking, either for being avant garde, or just for being shockingly bad.  It rated a 5.6 out of 10 I promised that this week I would not post another late Victorian dress, and I’m holding to that.  So I present you with a period that inspired many a late Victorian fashion trend: the Baroque. Rubens paints Anne of Austria, Queen of France in an extremely patriotic dress of brilliant blue fleur de lys ornamented silk with a fleur de lys shaped bodice. The dress, and portrait, are perhaps an attempt to solidify Anne’s position as Queen at a particularly uneasy time.  Her husband had never been particularly interested in her and blamed her for a series of miscarriages.  She had been unpopular with the people for refusing to give up her Spanish ladies in waiting and adapt to French ways, and had only recently been convinced to adopt French fashions. The portrait celebrates Anne’s new look, and aims to present her in a flattering light to her …