Priscilla Horton as Ariel in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Covent Garden 1838. Lithograph with touches of colour by R J Lane, 1838.

The figure lies diagonally across the print from left to right, her feet stretched, her right arm bent and held across the body, her left bent and following the diagonal line to the right; her head is turned towards the viewer. Her long hair falls over her breasts and flows out behind. On her head is an elaborate headdress of corals and small shells; from her back rise wings. Her diaphanous dress is trimmed at the hem with delicate sea plants and shells and around her upper arms are bands of coral. The only colour is the most delicate red toning of her cheeks and lips.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

Priscilla Horton was a well-known singer and actress in 19th century London, famous with her husband, Thomas German Reed, for their refined entertainments which became popular with middle-class audiences who did not otherwise go to the theatre.
The print shows her as Ariel, in the 1838 production of Shakespeare's The Tempest, Macready's production which restored Shakespeare's text after a century of 'adaptations'.
The print is part of the collection of prints, mostly of dance, 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.

Priscilla Horton was a well-known singer and actress in 19th century London, famous with her husband, Thomas German Reed, for their refined entertainments which became popular with middle-class audiences who did not otherwise go to the theatre.

The print shows her as Ariel, in the 1838 production of Shakespeare's The Tempest - in the 19th century, Ariel was usually acted by a woman. With its almost lack of colour and Horton's intense eyes, it suggests a fey quality and is a tribute to what must have been a somewhat disturbing interpretation to those who liked their supernatural beings delicate and feminine. She was, however, hit of the production, as she flew on wires over the stage and sang to the audience suspended in mid-air.

E.5026-1968