'The Celebrated Pas des déesses in the ballet Le Jugement de Paris. As danced at Her Majesty's Theatre July, 1846 by the four eminent danseuses Fanny Cerrito, Marie Taglioni, Lucile Grahn & Mon. St Leon.' Lithograph coloured by hand by Jules Bouvier, published 1846.

Centre, a male figure with small beard and moustace, wearing a short blue shortsleeved, round necked tunic, trimmed at the neck, sleeves and hem with 'silver' braid, and with a 'silver' belt at the waist; he stands on the right leg with the left raised behind, the right arm is curved outwards from the body and the left arm curved above his head, with in his hand a golden apple. To the left, kneeling on one knee with hands raised in a pleading gesture, a ballerina wearing a ballet dress with fitted bodice, low neck and short sleeves and a flowing calf-length skirt, the bodice trimmed at the breast with a posy and with flowers to the back of her mid-19th century-dressed hair; to his right, kneeling on one knee, the body curving to the left, eyes looking up to the man and arms curved above her head, a ballerina wearing a smiliar dress, but the skirt is slit to one side and held by posies of flowers and on her head is a band with a central star and posies to either side; behind her at far right a third ballerina with left arm raised to the man, her right holding a shield with Medusa head and spear, her dress having a two tiered skirt, the top skirt edged with a wave pattern and on her head is a gold diadem. To the left a plinth engraved "A LA PLUS BELLE", supporting an urn in which burns a flame, and, at the upper edge, above the clouds, sit Zeus and the gods. Titled beneath the image. Lithograph coloured by hand by J Bouvier, published T McLean, 8 September 1846.

Cyril W. Beaumont Bequest

The print came to the Museum as part of the Cyril Beaumont Bequest.

Historical significance: The print is one of the rarest of the Romantic Ballet lithographs.

"Le Judgement de Paris" choreographed by Jules Perrot was performed at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1846. The climax of the ballet was the Pas des déesses, which was obviously the Manger, Benjamin Lumley's attempt to repeat the success of the Pas de Quatre of 1845, when four of the great ballerinas of the Romantic era performed together. "Le Jugement de Paris" brought together three of the same dancers, Taglioni, Cerrito and Grahn, but this time giving the 'contest' a context in the story of the Judgement of Paris. In the print Saint-Léon as Paris holds the golden apple and looks down upon Taglioni, as Venus, to whom he will award the prize.
The print was probably designed as a pendant to the 1845 lithograph of the "Pas de Quatre", being of the same dimensions and comparable typography.

S.130-1992