These charming, hand-painted album pages are the work of the formerly mysterious Madame B. The collection is currently on display at The Art Institute of Chicago, who deduced the unknown artist's identity based on the initial on the first page and information from the photographs:
"All of the evidence, including photographs, portraits, and writing, seems to indicate that B refers to Marie-Blanche-Hennelle Fournier, known as Blanche (1831–1906), the second wife of the diplomat Hugues-Marie-Henri Fournier (1821–1898). A career diplomat from a young age, Fournier was posted in Stockholm from 1862 to 1872, the period from which many of the album’s Swedish photographs date. He was later stationed in Rome, and the pages toward the end of the album feature pictures of Italian rulers and sites. Fournier eventually settled down in France, where this remarkable album found its way to a Tours bookseller and, ultimately, to the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago."
See more of her lovely, detailed pages here!
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