Undressed

[Vanitas_Ashton]

I’m interested in the Lizzie Borden case and have read a few books on it. I’m still learning about it and have been stalking this forum but I figured I would introduce myself.

I’ve included an attachment of a painting I did last year. It’s titled “Undressed” and it’s of Lizzie Borden wielding her weapon in the nude. Of course, there’s debate as to whether she was fully dressed or naked when performing the murders but it does seem like in popular media such as film they portray her nude. I think I’ve read on here that it may have been more difficult for her to have undressed this way due to the complexity of clothing back then.

I also portrayed her with a full axe instead of a hatchet which was more likely to have been the case. What can I say it’s an experimental piece of art. The background is actually a very dark grey blue; as a reference to her clothing and dress colors of the day. Red censor bars because I don’t want to get in trouble for full nudity on the forum! *laughs*

I know I’m not professional and only amateur but I figured I would share this acrylic painting! Thanks for reading and what do you think…..was she fully clothed if she was indeed the murderer of Andrew and Abby?

[camgarsky4]

Hi Vanitas! Fascinating piece of artwork!

I suspect the murderer was fully clothed. To avoid blood splatter, the killer could have gone the opposite direction of disrobing and worn something to cover her body from any mess. Everything from a Prince Albert coat to a gossamer have been tossed out as ideas.

[mbhenty]

If you are Bill Bast and writing a screenplay for a movie, then yes, Lizzie was naked.

Otherwise she was only naked beneath her clothing.

If one thinks she did it.

The naked scheme is a slick recipe baked up for fiction.

Besides, Lizzie quit the nudest camp when she was in her twenties.

[Vanitas_Ashton]

Thank you camgarsky4.

The prince Albert cloak idea is definitely plausible. Why lay it under his head after he was murdered otherwise? I’d be interested in knowing more about it: how often he wore it or how big it was or other details.

I think the nudity concept is possible too but not concrete for sure. I know the two Lizzie films I watched, she was naked in both.

None of her garments had blood on them besides the pin prick mark that was said to be a flea bite or menstrual spot right?

I really do think Lizzie was the murderer. I just want to know how she did it!!! If only time machines were real.

Who is Bill Bast by the way?

[camgarsky4]

The victorian age was so ultra conservative for females, that I struggle imagining it even entering Lizzie (or whomever's) mind as a tactical option.

[mbhenty]

Yes, Bill Bast was a screenwriter. Wrote mostly for TV. He was the writer of The Legend of Lizzie Borden, the movie. Probably his most famous work. He is also known for writing a biography of James Dean.

I never looked into the concept of "naked Lizzie," so I am not sure how old it is or whether it was Bill Bast who made the idea fashionable. But the idea was first brought up in the actual Trial... in the closing statements, I believe. May have been defense attorney George Robinson who spoke about it and used the idiom, "stark naked."

And as Sir Camgarsky4 alluded to, the age and the times, even the defense attorney brought it up since it was so unorthodox for a Victorian woman to do such a thing, "stark naked".

But what a great scheme for fiction. And speaking of Victorian times, who is to say or not that Lizzie was not ahead of her time.

[Catbooks]

Andrew wore his Prince Albert coat habitually, and was in the habit of meticulously hanging it on a peg in the Borden dining room. Which Lizzie was in, by her own admission, before he was murdered.

His coat was the one item that was conspicuously out of place, messily folded and stuffed under a pillow that was under his head. He, a fastidious and frugal man, and a creature of habit, would never have stuffed it under his own head. It has to have been his murderer who did it. That's the only reasonable conclusion.

Why? To cover themselves to avoid any blood spatter on their clothes.

After many years, I can still only conclude Lizzie murdered both Abby and Andrew. She was in the dining room with his coat hanging on the peg, and used it. She is the only one with the means, motive, and opportunity.