Mlle Eugénie Fiocre

Two of ballet's greatest stars during the Second Empire were the Fiocre sisters, Eugénie and Louise, whose beauty and grace were legendary. Eugénie often took male roles, not only because of the shortage of male dancers in the period, but also because the tights of the costumes she wore gave her the opportunity to show off her superb legs. Her most famous role was as Franz in the earliest production of Delibes’s Coppélia, choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon (1870). The prima ballerina was also celebrated for her particularly feminine portrayal of the lead role in Delibes’s La Source, in which she was immortalized in oils by Edgar Degas, the painting now hanging in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.

Disdéri photographed several other actresses en matador, including Eugénie Schlosser, Alexandrine Simon and Blanche Montaubry.

Photographed by A. A. E. Disdéri