GISELLE oddity

[rg]

this scan shows an uncaptioned stereoscopic slide.

it was produced by Fortescue Mann of London (no date is given).

the little cross has GISELLE written on its crossbar.

the female dancers grouped among the bullrushes are unidentified; the one on the right, with the hair ribbon, might well be a Myrtha character and the dancer in the darker costume might be Giselle herself.

the old photo is came with the unintended streaks that make things even more hard to 'read.'

it's possible this is some Alhambra (or variety theater?) version of the 19th century classic.

your guesses are as good as mine...

[Mel Johnson]

Fortescue Mann worked about 1860-1900, the last series he produced, I believe was the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Celebration of 1897. The pastel color on the mount would indicate to me a rather earlier production than later, but sometimes you can't tell.

[rg]

thanks, Mel, for the info on the outfit that produced this item.

as one viewer politely pointed out the scan is made extra-tricky by the watermarking, so, here is the right half of the card w/o watermark.

[Mel Johnson]

Ahh, yes. I wonder if the one with the staff is supposed to be Myrtha, as well. I don't see a lot of asphodel in my life, so I'm not a good judge of what it looks like. The streaks, I'll bet, are from a chemical migration, perhaps from wood grain, or even corrugated board against which the view probably laid for years.

[Mme. Hermine]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ian.whitehead1/asphodel.jpg