Vignette bust portrait. Albumen CDV. Circa 1865. The photograph is presented on a double-gold-ruled line border mount featuring a lower gallery imprint reading: Gurney & Son Photo. N.Y. The verso features a small Gurney backmark. 

A lovely portrait of the celebrated 19th-century American actress and theatrical manager Laura Keene. Notably, she was one of the actors performing Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater when President Lincoln was assassinated. 

This vignette bust view captures the famous actress looking off-camera, wearing a patterned dress accented by a delicate neck ribbon and a matching bow pinned in her dark hair. An exceptionally bold period ink inscription across the bottom of the card face reads "Laura Keene."

Born in England, Laura Keene became one of the most influential women in the history of American theater, recognized as a brilliant actress and a trailblazing manager who ran her own first-class theater companies. On the fateful night of 14 April 1865, Keene and her colleagues were performing the acclaimed comedy Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., for a distinguished audience that included President Lincoln. Following John Wilkes Booth’s fatal shot, the theater erupted into absolute chaos. In the terrifying aftermath, Keene rushed from the stage directly into the presidential box, where she famously cradled the head of the dying President in her lap in a desperate attempt to comfort him. Her elegant silk dress was left permanently stained with Lincoln's blood - a stark, physical testament to one of the nation's greatest tragedies.

This portrait is an exceptional crossover piece that commands massive appeal across multiple collecting sectors, including 19th-century photography, theatrical ephemera, and Lincolniana. 

[Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards] [Abraham Lincoln, Politics, Mary Todd Lincoln, 1860 Election, Election of 1860, 1864 Election, Election of 1864,  Lincoln Assassination, John Wilkes Booth]

Excellent. The print exhibits an exceptionally clean tonality with outstanding contrast and clarity. The mount shows standard light age-toning and very minor wear along the sharp margins.