Caroline Lassiat in La Fille de marbre (Galérie Dramatique, No. 383). Lithogoraph coloured by hand by A Lacauchie, ca.1850

The dancer stands on her right leg, the left placed in front; her body faces the viewer and is slightly inclined to her right from the waist, with her left hand on her hip and her right curved above her head and holding castanets; her head is turned to look out to her right. On the left side of her head is a small black hat trimmed with roses; her hair falls in a single plait trimmed with bobbles over her right shoulder. Her white , low-necked, long-sleeved bodice is trimmed in dark red, with latticed 'epaulette' sleeves in dark red. Around the hem of her knee-length dark yellow skirt is a white band edged with pink and at the waist is a diaphanous white apron.
Signed on the stone "A Lacauchie"

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

Caroline Lassiat (misspelt as Lassia on the title) was a soloist at the Paris Opera in the 1850s and 1860s, before becoming one of the leading dance teachers under the name of Mme Dominique. Marco Spada was performed at the Paris Opera in 1857
The print is one of the series Galerie Dramatique, a gallery of theatrical personalities appearing on the French stage. Beginning publication in 1796, issuing one print every ten days, it continued, with only a break during the Franco-Prussian War, until the 1880s, by which time it had published some 3000 plates. All the plates were drawn from life after the opening of a new production, and so record many short-lived works, as well as some that are still performed today.
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.

Signed by A Lacauchie

The ballet La Fille de Marbre (The Marble Maiden) was first produced in Paris in 1847. Like any ballets, one aim was to show off as many dancers as possible, and this print probably shows Caroline Lassiat in in one of the many solos or small group dances. As Mme Dominique, she later became one of the most important dance teachers at the Paris Opera.
By 1847, 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. Even without the castanets, the distinctive sleeves of the costume indicate that this character has Spanish connections.

E.5028-1968