Ayesha "She-who-must-be-obeyed" - Sir Henry Rider Haggard

The queen sorceress Ayesha was created in 1886 by English author H. Rider Haggard who also created hunter and explorer Allan Quatermain and who is usually considered to be the founding author of "lost world" fantasy/aventure genre which inspired among others Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider. Ayesha is the titular character of four novels She : A History of Adventure (1886), Ayesha : the Return of She (1905), She and Allan (1921), Wisdom's Daughter (1923).
Ancient priestess of the goddess Isis, Ayesha is the antique arabic queen of the lost African kingdom of Kor. Two thousands years ago, this ruthless powerful sorceress bathed in the flame of the Pillar of Life to gain immortality and waited through the centuries the rebirth of her defunt lover Kallikrates.

I was greatly inspired by "Summary Execution under the Moorish Kings of Granada," painted by Henri Regnault (1870), that impressed me when I was visiting Orsay Museum in Paris. It’s a large-scale painting and its unusually long format makes it even more intimidating when you are staring at it at its bottom, with your eyes at the level of the severed head.