Mlle. Mars.

Claude Niquet after Eugene Deveria
Mlle. Mars.
(Paris, c. 1820)
Copper engraving
400x270mm
£65
A fine, delicately executed, full length portrait of the French comic actress and playwright Anne-Francoise-Hippolyte Boutet (1779-1847), known as Mademoiselle Mars. One of the most popular actresses of the Comèdie Francaise, she also acted in plays by Molière and was one of the original cast of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. A friend of Alexandre Dumas père (who became exasperated by her tantrums), she stands in a garden, resting her hand on a balustrade, wearing a fur trimmed robe and flowers in her hair.