Marie Taglioni in La Gitana. Lithograph coloured by hand by R J Lane after a painting by Emma Soyer, 1840.

A dancer stands facing the viewer, her weight on her right foot, the left trailed behind; her arms are held down, her left arm across the waist, and in her hands she holds castanets; her head is slightly turned looking back at the viewer. Her hair is pulled back into red fringed ribbon loops at the back. Over a white, elbow-length open-sleeved blouse is an off-the-shoulder grey bodice with a peplum, laced across the front and decorated with yellow scrolls, the wide, short sleeves split to the shoulder. The hem of the below-the-knee length underskirt is decorated with a band of yellow leaves; the shorter white overskirt is scattered with yellow oak leaves and caught up over her left leg, where it is held by a spray of yellow oak leaves and acorns. In the background is a plinth and in the foreground a flowering shrub and a floral wreath. The print area is cut across the upper corners.

Given by Dame Marie Rambert

La Gitana was originally choreographed by Filippo Taglioni for his daughter Marie and danced by her at the Bolshoi in St Petersburg in 1838; it was revived with dances by Antonio Guerra at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1839.
'Painting Madame Soyer (from life)
'Dedicated by permission to Her Royal Highness The Princess Augusta of Cambridge, / by Her Royal Highness's obliged & devoted Servant / Emma Soyer'
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 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 great 19th century ballerina Marie Taglioni was famous for her ethereal roles, like the Sylph in La Sylphide, but she just as capable of playing human characters and performing in other dance styles. In 1838 she appeared in La Gitana (The Gipsy), a typical Romantic ballet story of a child stolen from her aristocratic parents and brought up as a gipsy before being restored to her family. The print shows her in the costume for her Spanish solo. This was a direct challenge to her great rival, Fanny Elssler, whose particular forte was the wild, exotic Spanish Cachucha. Taglioni's solo was rapturously received by her audiences. In the print, the flowers on the floor represent floral tributes thrown by her admirers.
By 1840 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.

E.5058-1968