The photographer titled this portrait “Love finds the way” — and leaves it to us to decide what that means. The subject is actress Minnie Madden Fiske (Mrs Fiske). I thought at first that she probably appeared in a play of that name, based on the 1904 book — but then I noticed that the image was dated 1896 by the Library of Congress, though they don’t give their reason for choosing that date. I’d have thought it somewhat later, the high collar is typical of 1895-1905. The dress sleeves have a fluffy sleeve-cap at top, but are rather too tight for typical mid-1890s, when leg-o-mutton was more in vogue. On further research, I discovered that the book was based on a play, rather than the usual vice-versa, and Minnie appeared in that play in 1898 (the movie came out in 1912). This photo must date from that year or later.

The photographer was Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869-1933). According to an 1897 article in Leslie’s Weekly, she was “Algerian by birth, though reared and educated in England.” She had a studio on 5th Avenue in New York City, and took many celebrity portraits such as this. Another source states she was active 1896-1915, which may be why the LOC staff chose the earlier year for this image. The title, however, demonstrates that it is from at least a couple years later.