Carolina Rosati (facsimile signature) / AS LA ROSE, IN THE BALLET OF / THEA, OU LA FÉE AUX FLEURS.
Print
19 May 1847 (published)
19 May 1847 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The lithograph shows Carolina Rosati in Paul Taglioni's ballet Théa, in which she appeared at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1847.
Rosati was one of the great dramatic dancers of the mid 19th century, appearing in Paris, London and St Petersburg. Her career proves that talent alone is no guarantee of immortality; a performer also needs the luck to be born at the right time. As her talents matured in the 1850s, ballet was no longer as popular nor as fashionable as it had been in the great days of Taglioni, Elssler and Grisi in the previous decade. So, while they are remembered and immortalised in much sought-after lithographs, Rosati is almost forgotten, although she was, at the time and for a long time afterwards, the highest paid dancer ever at the Paris Opera.
The plot of Théa or The Fairy of the Flowers was thin to the point of anorexia. Set in Baghdad, thus giving the opportunity for voluptuous 'Asian' dances, the plot revolved around Théa, danced by Rosati, and her jealousy of Prince Hassan's love for flowers. With the help of the Fairy of the Flowers, a whole garden of animated flora and an opium-induced dream, Théa disguises herself as a rose and the Prince swears his love for her. The print shows Rosati in a suppliant pose, acknowledging the applause as her admirers pelt her with nosegays and flowers.
Rosati was one of the great dramatic dancers of the mid 19th century, appearing in Paris, London and St Petersburg. Her career proves that talent alone is no guarantee of immortality; a performer also needs the luck to be born at the right time. As her talents matured in the 1850s, ballet was no longer as popular nor as fashionable as it had been in the great days of Taglioni, Elssler and Grisi in the previous decade. So, while they are remembered and immortalised in much sought-after lithographs, Rosati is almost forgotten, although she was, at the time and for a long time afterwards, the highest paid dancer ever at the Paris Opera.
The plot of Théa or The Fairy of the Flowers was thin to the point of anorexia. Set in Baghdad, thus giving the opportunity for voluptuous 'Asian' dances, the plot revolved around Théa, danced by Rosati, and her jealousy of Prince Hassan's love for flowers. With the help of the Fairy of the Flowers, a whole garden of animated flora and an opium-induced dream, Théa disguises herself as a rose and the Prince swears his love for her. The print shows Rosati in a suppliant pose, acknowledging the applause as her admirers pelt her with nosegays and flowers.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Carolina Rosati (facsimile signature) / AS LA ROSE, IN THE BALLET OF / THEA, OU LA FÉE AUX FLEURS. (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Lithograph coloured by hand |
| Brief description | Carolina Rosati as the Rose in Théa. Lithograph coloured by hand by J Brandard, 1847 |
| Physical description | Against a background of flowers and shrubs, a girl stands, her weight on her left leg, her right stretched behind, her pointed foot resting on the floor; her arms are held down with the hands turned outwards, her head inclined to her left. She wears an off-the-shoulder bodice with cap sleeves, tinted yellow and trimmed on either sleeve with a single rose and at her breast with three roses; around her waist is a pointed belt trimmed with 'gold' leaves. Her bell-shaped skirt is in three diaphanous layers, the longest reaching to below the knee. On her feet are white ballet slippers. On the ground are flower posies and sprays. |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by Dame Marie Rambert |
| Object history | 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. |
| Historical context | The large souvenir prints of the Romantic ballet, issued in the 1830s and 1840s, are among the most evocative images of dance in the 19th century. Lithography, with its soft quality, enhanced by the delicate yet rich hand-colouring, was ideally suited to the subject - the ballerinas who dominated ballet in the mid-century and the romanticised settings in which they performed; style and subject were perfectly matched. The lithographs produced in London are notable for capturing the personality and style of individual performers in a theatrical setting. They are a fitting tribute to one of ballet's richest periods. Before the development of colour printing, the basic black and white prints were hand coloured. There is often considerable variation from one print to another, both in colour and quality of the work. The most important souvenir prints, such as this one, would only have been sent out to the best colourists, and it is often very difficult to tell the best hand colouring from early colour printing. In the days before photography, such lithographs were expensive souvenirs, bought by the individual dancer's admirers. |
| Summary | The lithograph shows Carolina Rosati in Paul Taglioni's ballet Théa, in which she appeared at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1847. Rosati was one of the great dramatic dancers of the mid 19th century, appearing in Paris, London and St Petersburg. Her career proves that talent alone is no guarantee of immortality; a performer also needs the luck to be born at the right time. As her talents matured in the 1850s, ballet was no longer as popular nor as fashionable as it had been in the great days of Taglioni, Elssler and Grisi in the previous decade. So, while they are remembered and immortalised in much sought-after lithographs, Rosati is almost forgotten, although she was, at the time and for a long time afterwards, the highest paid dancer ever at the Paris Opera. The plot of Théa or The Fairy of the Flowers was thin to the point of anorexia. Set in Baghdad, thus giving the opportunity for voluptuous 'Asian' dances, the plot revolved around Théa, danced by Rosati, and her jealousy of Prince Hassan's love for flowers. With the help of the Fairy of the Flowers, a whole garden of animated flora and an opium-induced dream, Théa disguises herself as a rose and the Prince swears his love for her. The print shows Rosati in a suppliant pose, acknowledging the applause as her admirers pelt her with nosegays and flowers. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.5041-1968 |
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| Record created | September 30, 2004 |
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