A Ballet Class ca. 1850. Lithograph by J & E Bettanier after Frank Teichel.

On a ballet barre leans a girl in ballet practice dress, with short sleeved bodice and short skirt; she is holding hands with the man lounging on the barre beside her, who wears mid 19th century day clothes with a top hat. To the right a similarly dressed girl stands with her back to the viewer, examined by a bare-headed man through his pince-nez. To the left of the print is a row of girls, their left arms curved above their heads, right arms down and right legs raised; beside them, back to viewer, stands a man in breeches, shirt and waistcoat, with a stick raised in his right hand. Far left, a curtain trailing on the ground, scattered with roses.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

The print shows a ballet class with visitors, probably in Paris in the mid-19th century. At this time, the only people who were allowed access to class at the Paris Opera were members of the exclusive Jockey Club, who frequently selected their mistresses from among the dancers.
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.

A Ballet Class ca. 1850. Lithograph by J & E Bettanier after Frank Teichel.

A Ballet Class ca. 1850. Lithograph by J & E Bettanier after Frank Teichel.

The print shows a ballet class, probably at the Paris Opera, in the mid-19th century. Then as now, dancers had to attend class every day to keep in shape and discipline was almost military in its severity. Ballet masters often carried a stick, ostensibly to beat time but also to indicate to the dancers what they were doing wrong; some were not averse to using it with some force on the offending part of the dancers' anatomy.

At this time, the only people who were allowed access to class at the Paris Opera were members of the exclusive Jockey Club, who frequently selected their mistresses from among the dancers.

E.5077-1968