Further to the previous post about late-Victorian female authors, I've run into a slight puzzle concerning Ouida (Maria Louise Ramé) and image attribution.
There aren't many photographs of her, but a handful are well-verified likenesses. This is a classic 1874 photo by Adolphe Beau, much-reprinted in Victorian books and magazines, here sourced from Elizabeth Lee's 1914 biography Ouida: a memoir (Internet Archive cu31924013470319).
This is a second, by Elliott and Fry, sourced from the 1906 Views of Men and Women of Note on the Vivisection Question (Internet Archive viewsofmenwomeno00brit). It's the same photo that featured in somewhat aribrushed form on Ogden's cigarette cards, as in the National Portrait Gallery collection (link).
A third, also by Elliott and Fry, and by the look of it taken at the same session as the previous, also appears in various publications (this one sourced from the August 3 1907 article "Romantic Ouida", page 170, The Literary Digest, v. 35 (July-Dec. 1907 - see Hathi Trust). All of these are consistent with her appearance as a plainish but striking woman (William Allingham described her in his diary as having a "sinister, clever face").
What's puzzling me is this image, the one used by the English Wikipedia, and consequently by any number of blogs and similar sites. It's clearly someone else:
The attribution for this photo tracks back via Wikimedia Commons to this image: ID th-07897 in the New York Public Library collection, source cited as "Billy Rose Theatre Collection photograph file / Personalities / D / Louise [Ouida] De La Ramee". But the woman in the photo looks nothing like Ouida, either in appearance or general style. Given the context, it's far more likely to be an American actress.
Any thoughts?
- Ray
There aren't many photographs of her, but a handful are well-verified likenesses. This is a classic 1874 photo by Adolphe Beau, much-reprinted in Victorian books and magazines, here sourced from Elizabeth Lee's 1914 biography Ouida: a memoir (Internet Archive cu31924013470319).
This is a second, by Elliott and Fry, sourced from the 1906 Views of Men and Women of Note on the Vivisection Question (Internet Archive viewsofmenwomeno00brit). It's the same photo that featured in somewhat aribrushed form on Ogden's cigarette cards, as in the National Portrait Gallery collection (link).
A third, also by Elliott and Fry, and by the look of it taken at the same session as the previous, also appears in various publications (this one sourced from the August 3 1907 article "Romantic Ouida", page 170, The Literary Digest, v. 35 (July-Dec. 1907 - see Hathi Trust). All of these are consistent with her appearance as a plainish but striking woman (William Allingham described her in his diary as having a "sinister, clever face").
What's puzzling me is this image, the one used by the English Wikipedia, and consequently by any number of blogs and similar sites. It's clearly someone else:
The attribution for this photo tracks back via Wikimedia Commons to this image: ID th-07897 in the New York Public Library collection, source cited as "Billy Rose Theatre Collection photograph file / Personalities / D / Louise [Ouida] De La Ramee". But the woman in the photo looks nothing like Ouida, either in appearance or general style. Given the context, it's far more likely to be an American actress.
Any thoughts?
- Ray
