19th & 20th Century Sculpture

19th & 20th Century Sculpture

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 69. Marie Taglioni.

Ballerinas from a Private Collection

Jean-Auguste Barre

Marie Taglioni

Lot Closed

July 14, 11:09 AM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Ballerinas from a Private Collection

Jean-Auguste Barre

French

1811 - 1896

Marie Taglioni


signed and dated: A. Barre ft 1837, inscribed: Fderie de L' Richard Eck et Durand., titled: MARIE TAGLIONI, and with another indistinct inscription

bronze, mid brown patina

30cm., 11¾in.

Private collection, Europe
'She is not just a dancer, but the dance itself.'
(Théophile Gautier, La Presse, October 1831)

Marie Taglioni (1804–1884) was a superstar of her day, and her performances inspired rapturous praise. Her grace and beauty were legendary in Paris and beyond, and she was courted by European royalty. Taglioni's departure for St Petersburg in 1837 appears to have been the stimulus for Barre to create his statuette. She returned to Paris in 1840 and continued to perform to considerable acclaim. 

Barre represented Taglioni wearing her costume from La Sylphide, her signature role, hovering above a bed of flowers which evoke the 'hurricane of bouquets and floral cloudburst' (Gautier) which greeted her at her curtain calls.