'Mademoiselle Taglioni.' Marie Taglioni as Flore in Charles Didelot's ballet Flore et Zéphire. Lithograph by R J Lane after A E Chalon, published by J Dickinson, June 1831.

Full length female dancer in arabesque with head turned to right, left hand outstretched at shoulder height, right hand touching right shoulder, wearing calf length dress, with low-necked bodice and cap sleeves, scattered with flowers with wings from shoulders, a floral wreath and pearl necklace and bracelets; standing against a background of sky and foliage. Titled: 'Mademoiselle Taglioni.' Lithograph by R J Lane after A E Chalon.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

The print commemorates Marie Taglioni's acclaimed London debut, at the King's Theatre, 3 June 1830 in the role of Flore in Charles Didelot's ballet Flore et Zéphire.
The print may have originally been part of the London Archives of the Dance; the Archives never achieved an independent home and part of the collection was stored with Cyril Beaumont, where it became inextricably mixed with his own collection and came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest.

Historical significance: The print commemorates the first London appearance of the dancer who was to transform ballet in the 1830s and 1840s and become the epitome of the Romantic ballerina, indeed, creating an image that, nearly two centuries later, is still the popular perception of a ballerina. Although the Romantic Ballet dress, with its calf-length bell skirt and low necked fitted bodice is more closely associated with La Sylphide, premiered in 1832, it is clear from this print that the idea of the style was already in embryo and La Sylphide chrystallised it into a 'uniform' for spirit characters in the Romantic ballets for the next century.

Reason For Production: Retail

S.455-2000