Original sepia-toned albumen photograph of a group of ballerinas in costume by an anonymous photographer, no place (Paris?), ca. 1890s. Light surface creasing and toning to verso, else fine.  Photograph measures 8.75 x 6.25 inches (22.2 x 15.9 cm.), matted to 20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm.).

A rather haunting image of ballerinas backstage, with some of the assembled dancers looking out to the photographer with an intense and direct gaze, while others seem more uncertain of the viewer or direct their attention elsewhere. One attired in darker dress and wearing some sort of crown headpiece, three others are draped with floral garlands. 

There is something frankly unsettling about the scene. Sex work was part of ballerinas’ realities during the 19th century, an era in which money, power and prostitution mingled in the glamorous and not-so-glamorous backstage world of the Paris Opera.  Men subscribed to the opera not for the music, but for the beautiful ballerinas who danced twice per show—and, behind the scenes, they bought sexual favors from the women they ogled on stage. Perhaps this image was taken by one such visitor.