Not on display

Facsimile signature Marie Taglioni / LA SYLPHIDE

Print
ca. 1840 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Marie Taglioni was the greatest ballerina of the 19th century and the Sylph in La Sylphide her most famous role. At a time when many men idealised women, her performance as the Sylph became a symbol of ideal womanhood - feminine, spiritual, ethereal and unattainable.
Taglioni's costume for the Sylph - a low-necked, calf-length, bell-shaped diaphanous dress - became the 'uniform' for ballet dancers. In fact, in cut and shilouette, the dress is based on fashionable dress of the 1830s and 1840s and details, like the bodice cut and waistline, change with fashion until the dress 'crystallises' in the late 1840s into the dress that is recognised as a 'ballet dress' today.
The peacock feather decorations are curious, as peacock feathers are generally regarded as unlucky in the theatre, the 'eye' shape linking them to the Evil Eye.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleFacsimile signature Marie Taglioni / LA SYLPHIDE (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Lithograph coloured by hand
Brief description
Marie Taglioni in La Sylphide. Lithograph coloured by hand by R J Lane after A E Chalon ca. 1840.
Physical description
Female dancer with, diagonally from left, a rosebush with cloud behind. The dancer faces to her right in profile, her right arm raised, left down, with her left leg raised. On her head is a coronet of roses and foliage; her white off-the-shoulder dress has frill sleeves and a pleated bodice; from her back rise wings decorated with peacock feathers; the diaphanous skirt is knee-length. Her shoe has two pink ribbon stripes.
Dimensions
  • Height: 325mm
  • Width: 238mm
Cut down
Production typeProof
Marks and inscriptions
Printed: 'Proof'
Credit line
Bequeathed by Lady Mary Evans
Object history
La Sylphide was choreographed by Filippo Taglioni, Marie's father, to display her extraordinary lightness and ethereality, which perfectly matched the prevailing fashion for the supernatural. The Sylph, as immortalised in the ballet La Sylphide, was a symbol of man's desire to escape from the prosaic world; she was also an image of the perfect woman, chaste, demure and unattainable.
Production
Attribution note: The word 'Proof' printed on the lithograph does not indicate a test copy made for revisions. Because lithography allowed such large runs of a print, it was argued that they were of no worth as an art-print, unlike engravings, which had much smaller print runs. Printing early pulls in a run with 'Proof' was a way of making them more attactive to print collectors, although they have no extra merit over any other pull in the run.
Summary
Marie Taglioni was the greatest ballerina of the 19th century and the Sylph in La Sylphide her most famous role. At a time when many men idealised women, her performance as the Sylph became a symbol of ideal womanhood - feminine, spiritual, ethereal and unattainable.
Taglioni's costume for the Sylph - a low-necked, calf-length, bell-shaped diaphanous dress - became the 'uniform' for ballet dancers. In fact, in cut and shilouette, the dress is based on fashionable dress of the 1830s and 1840s and details, like the bodice cut and waistline, change with fashion until the dress 'crystallises' in the late 1840s into the dress that is recognised as a 'ballet dress' today.
The peacock feather decorations are curious, as peacock feathers are generally regarded as unlucky in the theatre, the 'eye' shape linking them to the Evil Eye.
Collection
Accession number
S.2610-1986

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Record createdOctober 8, 2004
Record URL
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