18.00 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.
Like another popular postcard model of the period, Mlle. Doll, Mlle. Lutece is most often found in nature, by streams, and virgin springs, and particularly in sweet meadows. But while Doll was often photographed in the woodlands, with squirrels, bunnies, deer, peacocks, etc., giving her photographs a very 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, 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 settled the area that became a Roman town, 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 the "beautiful era" seemed always reaching toward.
Here, we have a really lovely image of her, one of two we recently acquired for the shop. A very nice, unposted card, circa 1900.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, 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 sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
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!