Young Alsacienne Woman

The woman wears the costume of, and personifies, the province of Alsace near the Franco-German border, where French photographer Adolphe Braun had his studio. The museum also owns Braun’s allegory of Lorraine (Woman in Lorraine Dress, 1999.109). After France lost the Franco-Prussian war, it had to yield most of Alsace and one-quarter of Lorraine to Prussia (now Germany) in 1871. While allegorical, these images were also personal for Braun and many Frenchmen, and often seen together as a pair.