Célestine Emarot in Guillaume Tell (Les Danseuses de l'Opéra, No. 9). Lithograph coloured by hand by Alophe, ca. 1860.

A female dancer stands with her feet turned out, her left foot to the front, her body facing front, her head turned to her right; her hands hold out the topskirt of her dress. On her head is a flat lace cap with frills down the back, the sides with loops of broad pink ribbon. The off-the-shoulder white blouse has lace-edged cap sleeves; the pale yellow bodice fits across the bust and is laced at her right side; across the top edge is a band of chocolate brown and to either side of the bodice are chocolate brown right-angles. The wide, blue, knee-length skirt is edged with yellow and the held-out pale yellow overskirt has a brown band to the hem. Down the front is a white apron with wide lace flounces held by narrow brown bands.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

The print is No. 9 in the series, Les Danseuses de l'Opera, published ca. 1860. There were 14 in total, all the work of Alophe. Célestine Emarot was a soloist at the Paris Opera and the mother of the talented Emma Livry, the dancer who was tragically burned to death when her costume caught fire in 1860.
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 over 130 items, 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. Although it is often referred to as the Rambert-Dukes collection of Romantic Ballet prints, it includes 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.

Célestine Emarot was a soloist at the Paris Opera and the mother of the talented Emma Livry, the dancer who was tragically burned to death when her costume caught fire in 1860.
By 1850, a recognisable 'ballet' costume had evolved - a low-cut pointed bodice, or a little blouse worn under a laced bodice, and a bell-shaped, knee-length skirt formed of tiers of tarlatan with a diaphanous top layer. To this were added various details indicating indicate the character, status or nationality of the particular role.
By 1860, photography had become a viable commercial medium, and several of the prints in the series Les Danseuses de l'Opera seem to be copies of photographs. Maybe this was because most photographs were quite small and, of course, sepia toned; translated into lithographs, they could be larger and then hand coloured, making them more suitable for display.

E.5004-1968