Arthur Saint-Léon and Fanny Cerrito in La Fille de marbre (Galérie Dramatique, No. 382). Lithograph coloured by hand by A Lacauchie, mid 19th century

A male and female dancer, the man standing on his right leg with the left foot pointed to the front, his body slightly turned to his right, his right hand down and his left angled over his head, looking past his left arm at his partner; in his hands are castanets. He wears a white gathered shirt under a dark red brown jacket, open to the waist, the full sleeves slashed at shoulder and elbow with white puffs pulled through; at the waist is a similar puff of white fabric. The dark red brown trunks are trimmed with black bands and the legs with yellow fringe. His partner stands on her right leg, the left pointed to the front, the body part turned towards her left, her head turned back to look at her partner; her right arm is bent loosely across her body and her left arm is held out and she holds castanets. Her hair is held at the back with a posy of flowers. She wears a Spanish-style dress, with wide V neck trimmed with a fringe which also forms short sleeves; the bodice is pointed at centre front and the bell-shaped skirt is trimmed at the hem with two rows of dark red-brown fringe held by a yellow ribbon with decorative motifs.
Signed on the stone "A Lacauchie"

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

La Fille de Marbre was choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon and performed at the Paris Opera in 1847. It was a reworking of André Deshayes 1842 ballet Alma.
The Galerie Dramatique was a gallery of theatrical personalities. 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.

The marble maiden of the title of this ballet is Fatma, a statue sculpted by Manasses. He falls in love with her and sells his soul so that she can be brought to life, but the condition is that she will never be able to love. The ballet was choreographed for Fanny Cerrito by her husband Arthur Saint-Léon, who also danced Manasses.
One critic described it as 'this strange faery, this incoherent dream, this hurly-burly of genii, demons, salamanders, Turks, Moors, Spaniards, penitents and arquebusiers.' In other words, the plot was a complex farrago, designed to feature as many dancers as possible while indulging the audience's love of spectacular scenery by moving the action through as many different countries as possible.
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. The costume for the male dancer had fossilised into a jacket or doublet with slashed sleeves and trunks over tights, the whole having a vaguely medieval German look.

E.5044-1968