Thisbe - AKA Florence Evelyn Nesbitt

I'm wondering if this is perhaps the same woman shown in the photo I posted on yesterdays blog? Whilst her hair appears to be somewhat lighter than in the photo previously shown, possibly due to the way the portrait is lit, everything else appears to bare a striking similarity - her clothing, the backdrop, the manner in which her hands are held etc?

The photo is another find from the Shorpy site I mentioned yesterday, is dated circa 1900, and according to blurbs that accompany the photo, is a photographic depiction of Thisbe, lover of Pyramus, a couple forbidden to wed by their parents in the ancient city of Babylon. I've 'borrowed' the following extract from Wikipedia;

In the Ovidian version, Pyramus and Thisbe is the story of two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses/walls, forbidden by their parents to be wed, because of their parents' rivalry. Through a crack in one of the walls, they whisper their love for each other. They arrange to meet near at Ninus' tomb under a mulberry tree and state their feelings for each other. Thisbe arrives first, but upon seeing a lioness with a mouth bloody from a recent kill, she flees, leaving behind her veil. The lioness drinks from a nearby fountain, then by chance mutilates the veil Thisbe had left behind. When Pyramus arrives, he is horrified at the sight of Thisbe's veil, assuming that a fierce beast had killed her. Pyramus kills himself, falling on his sword in proper Roman fashion, and in turn splashing blood on the white mulberry leaves. Pyramus' blood stains the white mulberry fruits, turning them dark. Thisbe returns, eager to tell Pyramus what had happened to her, but she finds Pyramus' dead body under the shade of the mulberry tree. Thisbe, after a brief period of mourning, stabs herself with the same sword. In the end, the gods listen to Thisbe's lament, and forever change the colour of the mulberry fruits into the stained colour to honour the forbidden love.

Thisbe herself is perhaps more famously depicted by the artist John William Waterhouse here;

Anyway, back to the original plot, someone else on Shorpy has suggested that the model is none other than the somewhat infamous Florence Eveyln Nesbitt, an artist's model, muse and actress, whose early involvement with notorious womaniser Stanford White, eventually led to his murder at the hands of her jealous husband, Harry K. Thaw. Lesser known is the fact that a photograph of Nesbitt was cut out of a magazine by the author Lucy Maud Montgomery and used as visual inspiration whilst writing her now famous book, Anne of Green Gables which was published in 1908.

Evelyn's photos were often taken by the celebrated portraitist Rudolf Eickemeyer Jnr, so it's quite possible that both photos were taken by him also, as indeed was this one;



Pfft, and on that sepia tainted note, I'd best get back to the housework. Only one kitchen floor to clean now, then I'm all done for the weekend. Yay!