Oh well, if you put it in that way it's creepy.
Thank you anyway, Ray_Jason for explaining me.

I suppose the official painting is from 17 or 18th century (During the 'Enlightenment or the Age of Reason'). So that means: we should look who has been a royalty in that time, tracking all those noble ladies and we will get our answer. Elisabeth Bathory was from early 1600, but already ruled in 1500. It could be a descendant of hers. But still, I think the painting is from the Western side of Europe.
Hey, I do not know this exactly; i try to think with you.


EDIT: Sorry, thought wrong. It must be from a century earlier. 16th or 17th because in the 18th the Barok got introduced and this lady is wearing everything except barok.

I googled & I think it's Mary Stuart

^ Yes I was just going to edit my post until I saw yours.

I think that Mary Stuart fits the lady in the painting. From several nobles ladies I have googled, Mary Stuart is the only one who has lots of common with the lady on the picture.

that makes sense, knowing she was a kind of rebellious powerful but then she became an exile and was killed by her own family & betrayed
Ayu & loneliness used to go hand in hand together, lol

P.S. Mary Stuart was always very tall and there Ayu's climbing a ladder, hmm :) know what I mean? :P

I'll assume you are talking about Mary Queen of Scots? which i don't think that is her...
THe picture isn't right..

Do we know if this is a reproduction of a real picture of just something that Ayumi borrowed and made into her own?

The dressing style is different too.

Why don't we just ask Ayu on twitter if she knows?

It might be a better idea to ask Leslie.

^LOL

It's a shame the song isn't as beautiful as the cover :(

Lord just what we need, asking him and he saying its just a mystery... I hate that.. lol

well at least it would go nicelly with "how beautiful you are" phrase, since she was obsesed with the youth.. >D

I think Mary Stuart looks similar:)
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/8...itionsstua.gif
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/6...nofscotsin.png

Like Queen Elizabeth, Mary Stuart is usually(or at least often) drawn ginger while the painting on the cover has darker hair. However Mary Stuart's hair colour is closer to it than Queen Elizabeth's, even if Queen Elizabeth is closer to the clothing style in most of her portraits.

Absolutely agree. I love psychology and from the biographies i've read about Elizabeth her description doesn't sound very plausible for me.on the other hand,somewhere else i read she was trying to help one of her cousins to get the throne in Hungary and that's why she was accused. I think it was negative propaganda the only one that remained,just like the propaganda for count (Vlad) Dracula.

Anyway, asking ayu who's the woman would finally clear our doubts about the "mistery" lady lol :laugh :roflmao

Do you guys see that thing in her hair? Isn't that a kanzashi of some sort? Could she be of japanese origin, but dressed up like 15th/16th century nobility? I've never heard of such a thing, but Idk. It might be possible. Just saying :P

I've never seen this portrait in my life before and I've seen tons (had a history crazy, or well, had. It's lasted from I was around 6 until now, hehe).

I don't think so. And if she is, then they accidentally painted her caucasian... :thud

LOL! It does seem kind of unlikely. Painters from back then tended to "cheat" a bit with their art sometimes though. Idk. Never heard of something like that before, so I don't really believe it. Just a random thought.

I want to know so bad who she is, argh! :laugh It's frustrating!

you don't know... you don't know... HOW BEAUTIFUL YOU ARE~
I liked it at first but then disliked it and now I like it again.

The discussion about hbya cover is really interesting. I'd really like to know who's the woman in the paiting too :yes. And if all of these hidden meanings are true, well.. they make the cover even more beatiful imo :D.
We really should ask to Leslie lol.

If Ayu is at Hever Castle, then that may be a painting of Anne Boleyn.

^ No, I already did research to her. It's not Anne Boleyn. But it's a good guess.

The painting could be of any of the royals or aristocracy. By the fashion in the painting, the Elizabethan era is a good guess as to when it was painted. I still love this cover!

Could someone please just ask to Leslie Kee on twitter ? lol
I would do it myself, if i had a twitter account...

Does someone know what's the actual bitrate of 'how beautiful you are' at the iTunes store?

.m4a @ 128kbps is a disaster.

The songs at Japanese iTunes store have been all updated and now you can download them @ 256kbps, though the price has gone higher a bit. :D

so no bigger big cover?

Just something I realized yesterday: The painting is also seen in the film "Shakespeare in Love", it's hanging in Viola's room. So I'm guessing it's from Shakespeare's age(the Elizabeethan age! Elizabeth was my first guess, even though her hair has a different colour), unless they made a mistake in the movie.

so lovely! ayu is pretty for sure but sometimes i love it when she does pics that's not just about her face.... great pose and surrounding...seems to me she's showing us anohter kind of beauty: beauty doesn't have to be big close up shot, it's not just skin deep...sometimes there's more than what meets the eye! ayu's work is so full of symbolism..that's why i love her!

It seems so abstract...which is fine, but I definitely prefer a cover like Party Queen or RAINBOW better.