17.00 USD
Lutece (pronounced LOO-tess) was the public persona of the lovely young woman in this photograph. We have not yet dug up any biographical information on her, which is a bit surprising given the number of images of her we've run across. Nearly all of the photos we've seen were taken by Leopold Reutlinger of Paris, the well known theatrical portraitist, and nearly all of them have her attired in that "classical" garb so popular during la Belle Epoque, and as much a fixture in Art Nouveau painting and sculpture as the "costume orientale."
Like another popular postcard model of the period, Mlle. Doll, Lutece is most often pictured in a natural setting, by stream, or virgin spring, and particularly in sweet meadows. But while Doll was often photographed in the woodlands, with squirrels, bunnies, deer, peacocks, etc., giving her photographs a distinctly fairy tale feel, Lutece's images were of a more "antiquated" variety, like scenes out of classical Greek, or Roman, myth. She was pictured playing the lyre, or pipes, worshipfully holding aloft a bunch of grapes, or nibbling at them, and as for wildlife, white doves seemed to love congregating near her.
And her name was well suited to her, because Lutece is the French word for the Latin Lutetia, or Lutetia Parisiorum, the 3rd Century b.c.e. home of the Parisii, an ancient Gallic people who it is thought first settled the area that became the Roman town, Lutetia, and where now stands the city of lights, Paris. Perhaps she represented to theater goers their forgotten origins, in a simpler, more magical, "golden" time, that La Belle Epoque, the "beautiful era," seemed always to be reaching toward.
Also like Doll, we really know nothing yet about her performance art, whether she was an actress, a singer, a dancer, or simply a lovely young woman whose images sparked Monsieur Reutlinger's, and the public's imaginations.
A very nice, unposted card, circa 1900.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for fully insured, first class, shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!