Theodora
In the Aftermath of the Nika Sedition

Here is a painting of Byzantine empress Theodora, renowned for her beauty, determination... and mercilessness. She started as a courtesan, ended up as a mighty sovereign.

 

One of her most notorious feats had been to crush a mass uprising which shook the whole of Constantinople. Her husband, Emperor Justinian, was already packing up when, unyielding, she told him to man up and face the music... which led to the massacre of thousands of people in the city's hippodrome.

The red toga is deliberately reminiscent of it.