The photo was probably taken by an Amsterdam photographer on or around 11 July 1895, the wedding day of Zelle and KNIL captain MacLeod. Another photo taken in the same studio, but showing the bride sitting on a chair next to the officer, is well known and widely used in articles. This standing photo is in a sense ‘new’.
Zelle, who was born in Leeuwarden, had met MacLeod through a personal advertisement. The couple had a son, who died young, and a daughter. The marriage would last eleven years, in 1906 the divorce was pronounced. Zelle would then make a name for herself as a dancer. In 1917, during the First World War, she was accused of espionage and executed in France.
Residential building
The wedding photo is one of two associated with Mata Hari. The other shows a house with house number 79. On the back someone wrote that it is the Geldersekade in Amsterdam and: ‘This is where Mata Hari lived. Grandma Bonefaas brought her tea in bed in the morning when she was sick.’
Both photos come from the Bonefaas family – family of MacLeod – and, together with other old photos and stamps, will be auctioned on 11 March at the philatelic auction company Sheraton & Peel in Zwijndrecht. The asking price for the wedding photo is 100 euros and 60 euros for the other photo.