print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.6527
- Title
- Object: Modern grace, -or- the operatical finale to the ballet of Alonzo e Caro
- Description
-
Didelot dances on the stage between two women, both very lightly clad in quasi-classical costume, and wearing 'cothurnes'. He wears a feathered hat, tunic, and cloak, and looks towards Mme Parisot (right); she strikes an attitude with right leg raised and arms extended, and looks alluringly towards him, her right breast bare. Mme Rose (left), his wife, dances with more restraint, her sharp-featured profile turned austerely towards her husband. All wave their arms above their heads, and their attitudes are in fact graceful (though caricatured). Two plump 'danseuses' (left and right) whirl on one toe in the background. Behind Didelot is an irradiated sun, with features looking down disapprovingly at the dancer. 5 May 1796
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1796
- Dimensions
-
Height: 262 millimetres
-
Width: 360 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- (Description and comment from M.Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VII, 1942)
The satire seems chiefly directed against Mme Parisot's exposure of her person and the transparent dress of Mme Rose, see BMSats 8892-4.
For Charles-Louis Didelot (1767-1837) see C. W. Beaumont, 'Bibliography of Dancing', 1929, p. 62. The ballet was by Onorati from 'Les Incas' by Marmontel, six performances, the first on 6 Apr. 1796.
Grego, 'Gillray', p. 211. Wright and Evans, No. 431. Reprinted, 'G.W.G.', 1830.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1996 Aug-Dec, London, British Library, 'Theatrical Entertainments'
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.6527
