Magny, as an old man, at the Paris Opera Engraving by Bérain, late 17th - early 18th century.

In a formal indoor setting, with a high arched window through which is a view of a river and mountain, a bearded male figure is dancing. He stands on his left leg with knee slightly bent; his right leg is raised and bent at the knee with foot flexed. His left arm is extended at shoulder height and his head is half-turned towards it with eyes looking back at the viewer; his right arm is raised and he holds a curved cane. He wears a flat-crowned, wide brimmed hat, topped with ostrich and coq feathers. His buttoned, long-skirted jacket has a belt with buckle and side bows around the low waist; the body, skirt, puffed sleeves and lower fitted sleeves are slashed; at the neck is a ruff and at the cuffs are frills. Attached at the back is a collared thigh-length cloak. His breeches are tied at the knee and his heeled shoes are trimmed with rosettes.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

It is impossible to work out which role Magny might have played in this entertainment, which one contemporary critic called 'a little childish'. The plot of Jean-Baptiste's opera Thesée was extraordinarily convoluted. Medea, who has occult powers and a nasty temper, is engaged to King Aegée, who falls in love with his ward, Agelé, who is loved by a mysterious stranger Thesée, who is desired by Medea; to complicate matters, Thesée is the long-lost son of Aegée. The sub-plot is an equally tangled love triangle.
Childish or not, Thesée proved to be Jean-Baptists Lully's most popular opera and was regularly revived over the next hundred years.
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.

Printed as: A Paris Chez J Mariette Rüe St Jacques aux Collonnes d'Hercules avec Privilege du Roy

It is impossible to work out which role Magny might have played in Jean-Baptiste's opera Thesée, an entertainment first performed in 1765, which one contemporary critic called 'a little childish'. The plot was extraordinarily convoluted. Medea, who has occult powers and a nasty temper, is engaged to King Aegée, who falls in love with his ward, Agelé, who is loved by a mysterious stranger Thesée, who is desired by Medea; to complicate matters, Thesée is the long-lost son of Aegée. The sub-plot is an equally tangled love triangle. Like many operas of the period, it also included allusions to contemporary events, like King Louis XIV's personally leading military campaigns along the French-German border.
Childish or not, Thesée proved to be Jean-Baptists Lully's most popular opera and was regularly revived over the next hundred years.

E.4958-1968