Adah Isaacs Menken
in Les pirates de la Savanne

Adah Isaacs Menken, one of the most notorious actresses of all time, scandalized 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.