Sarah Bernhardt in "Zaire" by Voltaire
1874
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1874
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
This painting shows Sarah Bernhardt dressed as a character from a play. She's wearing a costume from the Crusades era. The interesting thing about this work is that it was made in a portrait studio that focused on taking pictures of famous people, which helped them become well-known internationally. The studio used plain backdrops to make the subjects stand out. This was a common practice at the time. The portrait studio was similar to others, like Nadar's, which also took pictures of famous people. You can learn more about this style of photography by looking into the work of Étienne Carjat (French, 1828–1906).
