Juliette d'Arcourt

A cabinet card portrait of a lovely demi-mondaine identified verso as ‘Juliette d’Arcourt’.

The lady appears in The Pretty Women of Paris, an anonymous guide to the city’s prostitutes, poules de luxe and courtesans, privately printed in 1883, with the subtitle ‘Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults, being a Complete Directory or Guide to Pleasure for Visitors to the Gay City.’

According to this fascinating directory, those wishing to avail themselves of Mlle Darcourt’s services could find her at 44, rue de Provence. Furthermore, ‘There is no nonsense about this actress of the Nouveautés Théâtre, as she is always ready to start a fresh amour, provided that the new admirer has a proper balance at his bankers. She is very tall, very fair and very pretty. Perhaps a trifle too thin for some tastes, she can boast a sweet expression of countenance and a very pretty little nose, with quivering nostrils. Her blue eyes are bright and merry, and her age is not more than twenty-five. Blessed with a melodious voice, no one knows better than she how to give full effect to a ditty of the smutty order. She is passionately fond of diamonds, and possesses a fine collection of the sparkling stones that will buy the virtue of the most virtuous woman in the world, when all other arguments have failed.’

The photographer is Anatole Pougnet of 61 Boulevard Sebastapol, Paris, whose backplate appears verso. According to Voignier’s Répertoire des photographes de France au dix-neuvième siècle, Cyrus Anatole Pougnet operated at this address until 1878, when he was succeeded by Anne Griveau.