Joséphine Petit-Stéphan in a pas seul (The Star of the Ballet, No. 5). Lithograph coloured by hand by L'Enfant, 1844 E.5035-1968

A dancer stands on her right leg, the left stretched forward; the body faces slightly to her right , her arms held out low on a gentle curve, her head inclined to her left and looking upwards. On her severely dressed hair is a band of pale blue ruched ribbon, with tails falling onto her shoulders. Her off-the-shoulder blue dress has short fitted sleeves, a fitted bodice and knee-length bell-shaped skirt; around neck, sleeves, hem and down centre bodice are outlined in a fine dark blue band; on the skirt similar bands delineate a 'false' overskirt.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

Joséphine Petit-Stephan danced London between 1845 and 1851. The lithograph is no. 4 in the series The Star of the Ballet, of which at least 11 prints are known. They were published 1843-1844.
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.

Lanfant as L'Enfant

By the end of the 1840s, the ballerina had evolved an iconic look which is still the popular image of the ballet dancer today - sleeked-down hair, pointed, low-necked bodice, or a laced bodice over a small blouse, and knee or calf-length bell-shaped skirt.
Mademoiselle Petit Stephan wears what we now recognize as ballet shoes. These developed from the heelless satin slippers, held by crossed ribbons, which were the height of fashion in the early 19th century. Darned to give extra support, and then stiffened by various techniques and with a solid base across the toes, they developed into the modern pointe shoe.

E.5035-1968