SARAH BERNHARDT, Cabinet Photograph Signed

Autographs“The Divine Sarah” Bernhardt

SARAH BERNHARDT, French stage actress with an international following, often called “The Divine Sarah.”
Cabinet Photograph Signed and Inscribed to Freitas, the photographer in Buenos Aires who took her “very admirable photograph,” 6.75” x 4”, 1901, Choice Fine. A full length, seated, left profile. Photographer’s imprint, “Freitas Buenos Aires”, is in lower left corner of the photo and on the mount. Overall toning does not detract greatly from the item.

Henriette Rosine Bernard (1844-1923) was the eldest surviving illegitimate daughter of Judith van Hard, a Dutch Jewish courtesan known as "Youle." Her father was reportedly Edouard Bernard, a French lawyer, and she was educated in French Catholic convents. To support herself, she combined the career as an actress with that of a courtesan - at the time, the two were considered scandalous to a roughly equal degree. She made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s, and was soon in demand all over Europe and in the United States. Her reputation as a serious dramatic actress earned her the title, "The Divine Sarah"; arguably, she may have been the most famous actress of the 19th century.