Background
One Count Adalbert of Ballenstedt and Hidda, a daughter of the Lusatian margrave Odo I (965-993), are commonly reckoned as their parents, however, these names are not recorded in contemporary sources.
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Uta Ballenstedt
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Career
She is also called Uta of Naumburg as the subject of a famous donor portrait by the Naumburg Master. Uta was probably the sister of the Saxon count Esico of Ballenstedt, who married Matilda, a sister of Empress Gisela, and became the progenitor of the Ascanians. About 1026, her father married Uta off to Eckard II, the younger brother of Margrave Herman I of Meissen, for political reasons in order to further promote the rise of the Ascanian dynasty.
The remaining estates fell to Empress Agnes of Poitou.
Uta was among the donators of Naumburg Cathedral, therefore a painted statue was erected in her honour in the 13th century. Similar to the Bamberg Horseman, the individual depiction, part of a semicircle of twelve donor portraits, is today generally considered a masterpiece of Gothic art
From the 19th century onwards, the picture of Uta with the distinctive collar upturned was published in numerous art history and travel guides, becoming an icon of the "genuine" German character and culture — often contrasted with the Naumburg statue of Margravine Regelinda as the stereotypical "smiling Polish woman". The statue possibly inspired the character of the Evil Queen in Disney"s 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
