Mrs Rousby in 'Measure for Measure'

A carte-de-visite portrait of the actress Mrs Rousby (1848-1879), one of the most successful and beautiful actresses of the 1870s.

She is seen here costumed as Isabella in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, although I can find no evidence of her ever having played the role in a theatre. When Adelaide Neilson scored a hit in the role at the Haymarket Theatre in 1876, one newspaper reported that '[t]his play has not been performed in London for thirty years' (Dublin Evening Mail, 21 September 1876).

Photographed by the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company.

Entered at Stationers' Hall [part of the copyrighting process] on 19 April 1870.