Mlle Mourawieff et Mérante 1863

André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri created this photographic print of Mlle Mourawieff and Mérante in Paris around 1861. Disdéri was a portrait photographer, and the image suggests the world of the opera and ballet as a constructed stage set. But it also captures the spirit of the Second Empire, a time when Paris was being reshaped under Napoleon III. The rise of photography coincided with a growing interest in celebrity culture and mass media. Disdéri was astute in understanding how photography could cater to this appetite, and he opened one of the first photographic studios in Paris in the 1850s. Considered through a social lens, the image is less about the performers themselves, but more a portrait of Parisian society consumed by mass media and the cult of celebrity. Archival sources like newspapers, playbills, and personal letters can help us understand the cultural significance of performers like Mlle Mourawieff and Mérante in their time.