L'Adonis du Village. Aquatint coloured by hand, engraved and published by J Cross 1827.

Full length male figure on a hill above a lake, poised on tiptoe with the left leg raised at an angle to the back, the left arm curved outwards from the shoulder, the right bent behind the waist. He is wearing white tights and black shoes, a white wide-necked, long-sleeved undershirt over which is a pink fitted tunic, with white 'lacing' effect down centre front, enclosed in white bands which narrow to the waist, giving the impression of a 'breasplate'; over this is an appreviated black bolero jacket with short wide sleeves. On the head is a black wide brimmed high crowned hat trimmed extravagantly with white plumes. In the hollow to the right behind the hill is the roof of an Italiante small villa; a similar villa is depicted on the far side of the lake, below a volcano-shaped hill. Titled 'L'Adonis du Village' and with name of engraver and publisher.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

There is no indication of the subject of this print, either the dancer or the ballet. George Chaffee in his publication "The Romantic Ballet in London", Dance Index, Vol II 9-12, September-December 1943 suggests that the subject is Antoine Coulon and the pendent print 'La Fleur du Village' Caroline Brocard, in a ballet in 1826. He would prefer the subjects to be Charles Vestris and his wife Caroline Ronzi, but opines that the date is an obstacle and therefore settles on Brocard and Coulon, though the setting and costuming does not suggest any of the subjects of the ballets produced in 1826. However, Vestris and Ronzi were appearing at the King's Theatre as late as 1825, and if it were not that English prints were usually topical, one would be tempted to suggest the subject as 'La Noce du Village', first produced in 1823 but revived in 1824 and 1825, and described by John Ebers in Seven Years of the King's Theatre as 'a lively and interesting rural piece' (though whether 'rural' in this context is synonymous with 'rustic' is impossible to say)
The print came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest.
In the 19th century, the margins of prints were often left to be folded over card or stretcher before framing. This print was originally folded over card to the plate size and was been restored to its pre-folded state in 2001.

Historical significance: "L'Adonis du Village" and the pendant print"La Fleur du Village" are two of the finest prints of dancers of the pre-Romantic Ballet period. Prints of the 1820s are usually small scale and uncoloured.

S.132-1992