Elisabeth Bathory

Yes, it's the "Blood Countess".

Elisabeth Bàthory (Erzsébet Báthory - married Nádasdy) was born on August 7, 1560 in Nyírbátor, Hungary and died on August 21, 1614 in Csetje, Kingdom of Hungary.
As a young girl she learned Greek, German and Latin. On May 8, 1508 she married Nádasdy Ferenc, in what was probably a political arrangement within the circles of the aristocracy. Nádasdy’s wedding gift to Báthory was his home, Csejte Castle, situated in the Little Carpathians near Trenčín, together with the Čachtice country house and 17 adjacent villages.
Between 1602 and 1604, Lutheran minister István Magyari complained about atrocities both publicly and with the court in Vienna, after rumors had spread. In 1610 King Matthias assigned the Palatine of hungary to investigate. In 1610, shortly before the trial began, the investigators found two girls in Báthory's castle, one dying and one dead. The also found some other girls who were locked up. While the countess was put under house arrest, King Matthias requested that Elizabeth be sentenced to death. The Palatine convinced the king that such an act would negatively affect the nobility. A trial was held on 7 January 1611 at Bicse, presided over by Royal Supreme Court judge Theodosious Syrmiensis de Szulo and 20 associate judges. Báthory herself did not appear at the trial. During the trial of her primary servants, Báthory had been placed under house arrest in a walled up set of rooms. She remained there for four years, until her death.
In 1610 and 1611, the notaries collected testimony from more than 300 witnesses. Her initial victims were all adolescent daughters of local peasants.
The atrocities described most consistently included tortures:
~severe beatings over extended periods of time, often leading to death
~burning or mutilation of hands, sometimes also of faces and genitalia
~biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other bodily parts
~freezing to death
~surgery on victims, often fatal
~starving of victims
~sexual abuse
The exact number of young tortured and killed by Elizabeth Báthory is unknown, though it is often speculated to be as high as 650, between the years 1585 and 1610. Two of her helpers, who were executed, reported 36 to 37 respectively, during their periods of serving. Other defendants were taling of 50 victims. Many Sárvár castle personnel estimated the number of bodies removed from the castle at between 100 to 200. 650 victims were allegdly listed by Báthory herself in her diary. (This number became a legend, but was never proved.)
some people today claim that Báthory became a victim of conspiracy and that the proccedings were largely politically motivated. At one hand there was a big conflict between religions (the Habsburgs were Roman Catholics, while Báthory was Protestant) and on the other hand the Habsburgs wanted to extend their power over Hungary.

Drawn with color pencils on paper.
As references for Báthory I used a popular portrait of her a s a young woman and facial expression studies from an art book. For the young women in the background I used some body studies from an art book and Posemaniacs.

Special thanks to my little sister *Izabeth for putting the image together!

This picture is part of a series:
John Wayne Gacy
Ted Bundy
Ed Gein
David Berkowitz