This carte de visite features a nicely dressed pretty young woman. She has very engaging and piercing eyes. The reverse of this portrait has an inscription which I believe is in French. I am hoping that a Cabinet Card visitor can translate the inscription to English. A vintage photograph enthusiast on Facebook translated the inscription as follows. “It is written to the Mercedes Sangard Countesse of Choumouroux at Chateau Choumouroux near Yssingeaux”. I believe that this photograph is a portrait of Mercédès Andrée Ernestine (born January 31, 1900 in Craponne sur Arzon and died December 25, 1919). She was a member of the House of Sagnard, one of the oldest noble families in France. The photographer of this image is Francois Cheri-Rousseau (1826-1908). He began his career in Cusset, France. He also worked in Marseilles and Paris. Most of his career, he operated a studio in Saint-Etienne. He had two sons who both became photographers and eventually took over their father’s business. Cheri Rousseau began his photography career in about 1860. He was considered a talented photographer and won may awards for his work. In 1876 he filed a patent for a process for painting on photographs with bold ink. Rousseau also published postcards. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
Due to the apparent age of the young lady in the portrait and the dates given, should we assume the photographer was one of the sons rather than the father?
You are absolutely correct. The only way that The father could have taken this photograph would be if the subject was eight years old and he was on his deathbed. Seems pretty impossible. Thanks for pointing out my error. You are correct, one of the sons took this photograph if the subject is the lovely Mercedes.
The clothing predates your given birthdate of 1900. My French is not very good but if it does say -” It is written to “- I would read that as – the photo was given to the Countess, perhaps by the girl herself or by someone else.