Henri Dumoulin as a peasant at the Paris Opera. Engraving by Bérain, late 17th - early 18th century.

In a formal garden setting, against high hedges with trees beyond and a formal lake with swans surrounded by potted trees, is a dancing male figure, his weight on his left foot and his right raised to the front. His right arm is down and his head is in profile looking over his right shoulder, his left arm bent with the hand at hat-height. He is bearded and wears on his head a flat-crowned hat with wide brim, higher to the back, and topped with feathers. He wears a low-waisted short-skirted jacket, laced down the front, and knee breeches, frilled on the proper right leg. Over the jacket is an open skirted coat with wide collar trimmed with a frill; his full length cuffed right sleeve is pouched and held by a hand at the elbow and his left sleeve shows the back of a similar construction.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

The theatre has always spawned theatrical families, generation after generation or whole troupes of siblings, following each other onto the boards. Henri Dumoulin was a theatrical child, one of four brothers who appeared at the Paris Opera in the early 18th century.
According to the title, Dumoulin is performing a peasant role. At first glance, he does not seem to be wearing practical work clothes, but within the conventions of the time, his dress is extremely casual. The more aristocratic the person, the stiffer and more formal the dress, the more it restricted movement, marking him out as one who did not need to work for a living. Dumoulin's puffed sleeves, heeled shoes and feathered hat are conventional stylized theatre costume, but his loose breeches and unclutterd waistcoat mark him out as a working man.
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.

Henri Dumoulin (d. ca. 1730) was one of four brothers who all danced at the Paris Opera in the late 17th and early 18th century (he was half-brother to the other three). He made his debut at the Paris Opera in 1695 and left in 1730.

Printed as: A Paris Chez J. Mariette rue St Jacques aux Colonnes d'Hercules.

The theatre has always spawned theatrical families, generation after generation or whole troupes of siblings, following each other onto the boards. Henri Dumoulin was a theatrical child, one of four brothers who appeared at the Paris Opera in the early 18th century.
According to the title, Dumoulin is performing a peasant role. At first glance, he does not seem to be wearing practical work clothes, but within the conventions of the time, his dress is extremely casual. The more aristocratic the person, the stiffer and more formal the dress, the more it restricted movement, marking him out as one who did not need to work for a living. Dumoulin's puffed sleeves, heeled shoes and feathered hat are conventional stylized theatre costume, but his loose breeches and unclutterd waistcoat mark him out as a working man.

E.4954-1968