Marthe Le Rochois singing at the Paris Opera. Engraving late 17th century.

On a stage with classical column and balustrade over which can be glimpsed a fountain and trees, stands a female figure in Baroque stage costume, her head slightly inclined to her left and looking over her left shoulder. Her body is part-turned to her right, with her right hand out below shoulder height; in her left hand she holds a handkerchief. The high wig is set with 'jewels' and tipped with ostrich feathers and an upstanding aigrette. Fitted around her neck is a necklace of large pearls. The costume has a fitted pointed bodice and short sleeves turned back and held with a 'jewel', extending into long hanging 'sleeves' over inner lace frills; the v-neck is filled with a small modesty frill. The open-fronted skirt extends into a long train at the back and it and the full-length underskirt is frilled at the hem. The whole costume is decorated with elaborate scrolled foliage and stylized flowers set with 'jewels'; down the sleeves, bodice, neck and around the upper overskirt to the frill are decorative braid 'bars'. From the back of the costume falls a fabric drape.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

Although the print identifies the subject as Marthe Le Rochais, this is a misprint for Marie Le Rochais, who was born in the mid 17th century and was star at the Paris Opera in the 1680s and 1690s.
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.

Although the print identifies the subject as Marthe Le Rochais, this is a misprint for Marie Le Rochais, who was born in the mid 17th century and was star at the Paris Opera in the 1680s and 1690s.

Printed as: A Paris chez J. Mariette rue St Jacques aux Colonnes d'Hercule

Although the print identifies the subject as Marthe Le Rochais, this is a misprint for Marie Le Rochais, who was born in the mid 17th century and was star at the Paris Opera in the 1680s and 1690s. Most operas of the time were based on classical or Greek mythology, so Marie's roles were on an epic scale, including the vengeful Medea, the enchantress Armide, Arethusa, Thetis, Dido and the goddess Venus.
Her elaborate costume is a theatrical version of fashionable dress of the period.

E.4955-1968