Louis Mérante and Emma Livry

A hand-coloured carte-de-visite portrait of the dancer and choreographer Louis Mérante, seen here with the talented dancer Emma Livry, whose promising career was cut short by her early death in 1863, the result of her skirts catching fire during a rehearsal of The Dumb Girl of Portici.

According to an inked inscription on the album page, the two dancers are seen here in La Sylphide, the ballet in which Livry made her debut on 20 September 1858.

Photographed by Disdéri of Paris.