The print is a depiction of the celebrated Barre figurine showing Taglioni as the Sylph in "La Sylphide", her most famous role. The figure was held to be a perfect evocation of Taglioni's aerial quality and her child-like and spiritual interpretation and, like the lithographs of the Romantic Ballet period, it was created to be produced in qualtity as a souvenir of the dancer; however, such figures were relatively expensive, so the natural consequence was for them to be 'retranslated' into quality souvenir prints.
The Barre figurine of Taglioni in "La Sylphide" dates from 1837 and was devised as a pair to the figure of Fanny Elssler in her most famous role, Florinda dancing the Cachucha from "Le Diable aux boiteux"; this had been issued in 1836, following Elssler's sensational success when the ballet was first given in Paris.