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Rare SP of Leodiska, the Amazing Parrot Trainer!

$500
Item: 21950
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LEODISKA. (?-?). Fin-de-siecle Spanish circus performer. SP. (“Leodiska”). 1p. Cabinet. N.p., N.d. A full-length studio portrait by Friedrich Schroeder depicting Leodiska in her circus costume leaning against a small table with a cockatoo perched on her right hand; signed in the lower mount.

Leodiska, with her collection of trained parrots and cockatoos, made her debut in Spain on June 27, 1892. Subsequent performances were reported in the July 1895 issue of the Spanish journal Revista: Teatral, Literaria, Cientifica. De Bellas Artes Y Espectaculos, which notes that Leodiska performed with circuses in in the Spanish countryside, and she appears among the list of performers in the May 1895 Revue l’Art Dramatique. By August 1899, “Mlle Leodiska’s Performing Cockatoos and Paraqueets” was listed on the bill of the Alhambra Theatre in London’s Leicester Square.

Identified in French on the verso in an unknown hand “Leodiska / perroquets dresses” (“Leodiska / parrot trainer”). In very fine condition, with two thumbtack impressions at the top and bottom and a thumbtack hole near the bottom edge. A rare piece of 19th century circus history.

Rare SP of Leodiska, the Amazing Parrot Trainer!

$500 • item #21950

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