9. Who Was Maria l'Antillaise?

Searching for a mysterious 19th century muse.

Maria l’Antillaise assise, la poitrine dénudée, as photographed by Félix Nadar. c. 1856-1859. Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Very little was known about the woman in the photos. She posed for the great photographer Félix Nadar on at least two occasions, in Paris in the late 1850s or early 1860s, and these four carte de visite portraits were the result…