Portrait of the Countess of Pourtalès
Photography
Inventory number
2021.6.7.4.PH.VI.C1870.FRAuthor:
Atelier Le Jeune (French , active 1864 - 1874)Description
Full length photograph of a woman holding a fan and wearing an evening dress in a style of Versailles revival.The lady is Louise Sophie Mélanie RENOUARD DE BUSSIERRE (1836 - 1914), better know as Countess Mélanie of POURTALES after her marriage in 1857 to the French banker, officer and politician of Swiss origin Edmond de POURTALES-GORGIER (1828 - 1895). She is famous for her Parisian salon during the French Second Empire but also for having been a fashion thrower as her best and close friend Pauline de METTERNICH. It is she who advocates the abandonment of dresses with a train for short dresses.
Her Parisian residence, the mansion of Pourtalès located at 7, rue Tronchet in the 8th arrondissement also called the “No Address”, had become today a luxury hotel regularly praised by celebrities such as Leonardo DICAPRIO, Madonna or the football player Zlatan IBRAHIMOVIC who lived there for a year during his time at Paris Saint-Germain club. On the night of October 2 to 3, 2016, Kim KARDASHIAN was assaulted while she has been stolen jewelry worth several million euros.
Materials
Analog photographyCardboard
Origin
circa 1870 Paris, FranceDimensions
Length : 6 cmHeight : 9.5 cm