The Firebird (L'Oiseau de feu) was an archetypal 'Diaghilev' ballet, and one of the most successful of the early works of the Diaghilev Ballets Russes. Premiered in Paris in 1910, it was distinguished not only by Mikhail Fokine's imaginative and magical choreography and production, but by being Serge Diaghilev's first commissioned score from Igor Stravinsky, his greatest musical discovery. It was the beginning of a distinguished collaboration between Stravinsky and Diaghilev's company.

The ballet was designed by Alexander Golovine except for the leading dancers' costumes, which were by Leon Bakst. By the mid-1920s, when Diaghilev wished to revive the ballet, the original designs were seen as old-fashioned. Diaghilev therefore commissioned new sets and costumes from Natalia Goncharova, whose style, deriving from icons and Russian folklore, with bold colours and simplified shapes, was admirably suited to the folk tale elements in the ballet. The Firebird has a large cast and, because of the financial straits of the Diaghilev Ballets Russes at this time, not every costume was redesigned and remade: the finale calls for a large number of extras and for these Goncharova reworked the existing Golovine costumes.

The backcloth for Scene II evokes a traditional Russian city skyline of towers and minerets: the colours are bold reds, blues and ochres with gleaming golden onion domes. The set, combined with Stravinsky's sublime music and the grave procession paying homage to the Tsarevitch and his beautiful Tsarevna, creates an overwhelming sense of joy, majesty and celebration that movingly evokes Russia. It is one of the great moments of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.

The first performance of the redesigned production was seen at the Lyceum Theatre, London, on 25 November 1926. The ballet remained in the repertory until Diaghilev's death and in the 1930s was acquired, along with the remaining Diaghilev repertory, by the De Basil Ballets Russes and was performed by them in London and internationally during the 1930s and 1940s.

A version of Goncharova's design for the backcloth (E.2137-1932) was given to the V&A by W.A. Propert, a friend of Diaghilev and is now in PDP. Propert was the author of two books on the Ballets Russes and this version was probably made as an illustration to the second, The Russian Ballet, 1920-1929 (London 1931). This explains its almost square shape, an unlikely format for a backcloth design and the left hand side is irregular, seemingly cut around some of the buildings and towers. The design matches the right hand two-thirds of the backcloth.

PFTF holds the backcloth itself (S.455-1980) acquired from Richard Buckle and the Friends of the Museum of Theatre Arts.

The squared up drawing is that from which the backcloth in the V&A's collections was painted. The only discrepancy is that the backcloth has additional side pieces which have been added to allow it to be used in larger theatres. There is no evidence that the squared up drawing is by Goncharova herself : the style does not appear to be hers and it is unusual for a design to square up a set in this way. The presumption is that it was drawn by the scene painter, who is uncredited in the programme.

The V&A also owns Goncharova's drawing for the final scene backcloth and the costume design for the Beautiful Tsarevna, both made for the 1954 revival by Sadler's Wells Ballet.

The drawing originates from a private specialist collection of Goncharova's work.