To begin with, the supposed image of Lola so prominently featured in this piece, the photo with long crimped curls (an excellent ambrotype in the collection of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley), has now been officially discredited, but having been widely published for some decades it will no doubt continue to be trustingly circulated for some time. It was identified --erroneously-- at a time when there was less awareness of Lola's actual appearance, but the lack of any similarity in the features, coloration, style of clothing or hairstyle to Lola's has become ever more apparent over the years. There are numerous misidentified images in use, which nowadays are more easily spotted.
Of course an authentic celebrity photo is worth a great deal more than an image of an unidentified person, so those holding pictures they thought to be of Lola are loath to surrender the greater status and value of their treasures by conceding that these are not really Lola after all. It's understandable; they may have paid a pretty penny for an item that actually has much less historical or market value than was represented. Victorian images of attractive or arrogant-seeming brunettes dressed either in black, in anything vaguely or overtly Spanish or in a riding habit (especially with whip or crop) have been freely labeled 'Lola'.
This short bit speaks admiringly of Lola as a feminist and a radical, making repeated use of the Bancroft ambrotype, along with authentic images. Lola in fact denied any great interest in Women's Rights; she was mainly interested in Lola's Rights. An attempt at a portrayal of Lola and her dance by an actress who obviously knew little about either --and who appears to be a blonde-- is included. Referring to her political pretensions in Munich, we are informed: "But she was really in step with the people's mood at the time." In fact the people of Munich detested her, but she hadn't the sense to behave herself, relying on King Ludwig's protection. For a full account, I recommend Bruce Seymour's excellent 1996 biography, "Lola Montez, a Life"-- but in the paperback, not the first-edition hardback, because new information surfaced after first publication and is included in the paperback.
At least "Lola Montez, 19th Century Radical" only runs five minutes, and was clearly intended as respectful. Unfortunately it was poorly researched.
The Countess continues to baffle and fascinate even after all this time...
