Zouzou, Risette and Malakoff

A carte-de-visite portrait of the popular dancers and demi-mondaines Henriette Zouzou, Virginie Risette and Eugénie Malakoff.

Another pose from the same sitting was used as the frontispiece to a slightly scurrilous publication of the 1860s entitled Ces dames [English: 'These Women'], which gave brief biographical details and recounted amusing anecdotes concerning the lives of some of the more notorious demi-mondaines of the Second Empire, including Rigolboche, Finette, Alice La Provençale and Nini Belles-Dents. The full text of the book is available online.

Photographed by Pierre Petit and Trinquart of 31, place Cadet, Paris.