The Dance. Engraving by J Tinney after a painting by Nicolas Lancret.

In a wooded setting a man and woman in 18th century dress are dancing. She stands to the left, her right hand holding her skirt, her head turned in profile, looking at her partner who holds her outstretched left hand. She wears a wide-necked dress with pointed stomacher, frilled elbow-length sleeves, peplum and an apron over her full length skirt; a pointed shoe can be seen where she holds up her skirt. Her partner stands in profile, looking at her, the weight on his right leg, his left leg extended towards his partner. His upper body is swathed in a cloak, from which emerges his left hand holding his hat, and he wears loose knee-breeches and shoes tied with ribbons. On the ground behind them is a musician playing a flute and to the left of the print an older bearded man and a seated girl.
Printed with the verse: 'With idle Toys while Suitors court, / The lovely Fair seeks rural Sport, / And He alone with gain her Love, / Who can with gracefull (sic) Vigour move. / The spritely Dance gives Beauty Arms, / And ev'ry Motion shews new Charms: / The Dance excites the youthfull (sic) Fire, And makes ev'n envious Age, admire.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

The print is part of the collection of dance prints amassed by Marie Rambert and her husband, Ashley Dukes in the first half of the 20th century. Eventually numbering 145 items, some of which had belonged to the ballerina Anna Pavlova, it was one of the first and most important specialist collections in private hands.
Rambert bought the first print as a wedding present but could not bear to give it away. As the collection grew, it was displayed in the bar of the Mercury Theatre, the headquarters of Ballet Rambert, but in 1968, Rambert gave the collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum; seven duplicates were returned to Rambert, but these are catalogued in Ivor Guest's A Gallery of Romantic Ballet, which was published before the collection came to the V&A. Although often referred to as a collection of Romantic Ballet prints, there are also important engravings of 17th and 18th century performers, as well as lithographs from the later 19th century, by which time the great days of the ballet in London and Paris were over.

Printed for Robert Sayer Map & Printseller at the Golden Buck in Fleet Street

The message on the print is clear - if you want to get a girl or impress a boy, you must be able to dance well. Throughout the ages, men and women have met through social dance and a good dancer of either sex has always been popular. Until the 19th century, dancers were usually at arm's length, which gave an admirable opportunity to show off your own graceful movement or admire your partner's trim, attractive figure. A boy, no less than a girl, would admire a partner who could move well and not blunder around with two left feet.
The print is taken from a painting by the French 18th century artist Nicolas Lancret. He often included dancing figures in his pictures for, at that time, dancing symbolised society in harmony, besides being an important social grace.

E.4967-1968