Julia Depoix

A cabinet card portrait of French actress Julia Depoix (1861-1898) of the Théâtre Vaudeville.

According to The Pretty Women of Paris, a scurrilous publication of 1883, part-pornography and part-fantasy, Mlle Depoix augmented her income from the stage by also working as a courtesan.

'This diminutive actress has only just entered the lists, and may be described as a most engaging piece of goods. She is no taller than a good-sized walking stick, but she has black hair that falls to the feet, sweet features, cunning little beady black eyes and a Roman nose. She has just passed through a trying ordeal, as her principal lover, the scapegrace son of a Jewish banker, on whom she doted, has succeeded in disentangling himself from her toils, and has made peace with his family by getting married. [...] The wanton minx always had a mania for getting spoony on poor young fellows, so perhaps this lesson will cure her and lead her to welcome the arrival of a clean, wealthy old gentleman with lots of money and no dangerous, dirty fancies.'

Photographed by Chalot of Paris.