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Hortense Rhea Belgian born French Stage Actress Original Cabinet Card Photo. Extremely rare antique original cabinet card photograph of the famed Stage Actress portraying the title role of Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte in the play Josephine, Empress of the French, by Albert Roland Haven. This photograph was taken by Benjamin J. Falk at the Falk Photography Studio at 949 Broadway, New York. The photograph has the closing "Yours Truly" with her signature signed on the back and is dated 1889. This authentic original item is in Very Good condition (minor surface scratches and wear) The cabinet card was a style of photograph which was widely used for photographic portraiture after 1870. It consisted of a thin photograph mounted on a card typically measuring 108 by 165 mm (4+1/4 by 6+1/2 inches). Hortense Rhea Bio courtesy of Wikipedia. Hortense Rhéa (born Hortense Barbe-Loret; 4 September 1844 – 5 May 1899) was a Belgian-born French actress whose popularity extended to the Russian Empire and later the United States of America. In 1881, Theatre manager Harry Sargent signed her to an American tour that debuted at the Park Theatre, Brooklyn on 14 November of that year. Rhéa continued to return to America for tours until 1898. The success of Haven's play Josephine, Empress of the French was credited, at least in part, for rekindling an interest in America of the Napoleonic era.