Adah Isaacs Menken

A carte-de-visite portrait of Adah Isaacs Menken (1825-1868). One of the most notorious actresses of all time, she scandalised society in the role of Mazeppa, in which she appeared practically naked, strapped to the back of a horse. She fascinated a number of famous men, including Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Alexandre Dumas, père.

She is seen here in costume for Les pirates de la Savanne [The Pirates of the Savannah], a play written expressly for her by Ferdinand Dugué and Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois, produced at the Théatre de la Gaité.

The reverse of the mount has been signed 'Votre Menken' in ink by the sitter. The carte comes from a collection which once belonged to the play’s author, Ferdinand Dugué.

Photographed at the London studio of the great French photographer Disdéri.