Stage & Screen
ALBANI
(Dame Emma, 1852-1930, Canadian Operatic Soprano)
Fine Unsigned Cabinet photo by Lafayette
showing her half length in profile,wearing a white lacy dress and holding her gloved hand to her throat, 6½ x 4¼, no date, no place, circa
Item Date: 1880
Background
The Lafayette studio was one of the earliest photographic businesses in the world. It was founded in Dublin in 1880 by James Stack Lauder, who used the professional name of James Lafayette. James was the eldest son of Edmund Lauder, a pioneering and successful photographer who had opened a daguerreotype studio in Dublin in 1853. In adopting the name 'Lafayette', James created a new image for the family business, seeking to prosper from the cachet of a French name: Paris was then the centre of the art world and of avant-garde photography in particular.
Stock No. 38541