Back To The Wall

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In a recent post I noted how Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt had posed in precisely the same place against the same background when having their photographs taken by Napoleon Sarony.

Wilde and Bernhardt was a curiosity; but now Lillie Langtry makes it a mystery.

When I noted that Oscar Wilde and Sarah Bernhardt had posed in the same place against he same wall, it was argued that the wall may have been a common setting used by Sarony, perhaps good for lighting or other effects.

So, in an effort to debunk my own theory of significance, I embarked upon a search for other examples of Sarony photos against this wall. But there were hardly any, and Sarony photographed over 40,000 subjects. Naturally, I haven’t seen them all, but it did seem strange that, like Earnest cucumbers, there were none to be had, and I was about to give up the search and rejoin the world of people with better things to do.

And then I chanced upon a Sarony photograph of Lillie Langtry.

Not only was she against the same wall—she too, was in precisely the same position relative to the pattern—and it is worth noting that wild accompanied Langtry on a visit to Sarony’s studio.

Finally, it is possible that the wall was a prop—a moveable backdrop. In fact, it is likely. If so, and it was therefore not a permanent place for posing, it makes the uncommon selection of it by three connected people all the more curious. 

© John Cooper, 2018.