The Countess di Castiglione caused a scandal by appearing at a 1857 costume ball at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as The Queen of Hearts, a thinly veiled allusion to the fact the she was currently the mistress of the emperor, Napoleon III.

She was photographed in the costume by Pierre-Louis Pierson several years later, between 1861 and 1863, apparently wishing to preserve the scandal for posterity.

Imagine living for the drama so much that you dress up and have a picture taken 5 years after the drama happened to commemorate it.