Mr. Lambkin of course visits all the Theatres
George Cruikshank
1844
Steel-engraving
10 cm high by 9.2 cm wide, framed
Ninth illustration for George Cruikshank's The Bachelor’s Own Book; Or, The Progress Of Mr. Lambkin (Gent.), in the Pursuit Of Pleasure And Amusement (page 18, left-hand side of the fifth plate, complementing Lambkin's impersonating Don Giovanni).
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Mr. Lambkin, of course, visits all the Theatres and all the Saloons, he even makes his way to the Stage and the Green-room, and is so fortunate as to be introduced to some highly-talented members of the Corps de Ballet. [page 18]
Cruikshank now offers a pair of theatrical plates; in the left-hand register of the sixth plate, complementing Lambkin's attending a boisterous masquerade in the character of Don Giovanni in the right-hand register, the stage-manager introduces a charmed Lambkin to an attractive young ballerina. The left-hand picture thus represents Lambkin encountering the high culture of the French ballet, in contrast to the right-hand frame, in which he participates in a masquerade out of Italian carnival and carouses with actresses as he begins his sharp descent into low society and poor health. The corps de ballet ladies whom Lambkin meets on stage after the close of the evening production are morally and sartorially more elevated types than the actresses with whom he drinks champagne and porter in Mr. Lambkin goes to a Masquerade backstage at another London theatre. The context for the initial, more refined scene is the stage of a West End theatre during the era in which English ballet began to blossom, the 1840s.
As the gazebo (right rear) in the set of what is probably the Princess's Theatre suggests, tales of romance and fairy tales had replaced the mythological subjects of the eighteenth-century ballet. The young ballerina to whom Lambkin is being introduced is wearing pointed pumps as dancing sur les pointes or "on the toes" as recently become the style of English ballet had come into favor, but she is not wearing a tutu, the very short, buoyant skirt that completely freed the legs, which was about to come into use.
In all likelihood, as has been mentioned, Cruikshank has set his scene on the stage of what had recently become (as a result of Victoria's accession to the throne) Her Majesty's Theatre, which was the centre of the new, romantic ballet and the home of the renowned ballet corps known as The Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre, a troupe second only to the Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris. It is possible that the theatrical gentleman making the introductions in Cruikshank's illustration is Jules Perrot (1810-1892), the company's Premier Maître de Ballet or chief choreographer, who had assumed the post in 1842, and who "projected a dreamlike, otherworldly quality in his romantic ballets" (McManus, p. 207).
The Italian composer Cesare Pugni was appointed Composer of the Ballet Music to the theatre in 1843. From 1843 until 1850 he composed nearly every new ballet presented at the theatre. Pugni remains the most prolific composer of the genre, having composed more than 100 original ballets, as well as composing numerous divertissements a nd incidental dances that were often performed as diversions during the intermissions of opera performances at the theatre. Throughout the era of the romantic ballet, the theatre presented performances by notable ballerinas. ["Core of Culture: Ballet."]
As the after-party starts, the stagehands are already shifting scenery (left) and examining the wires (upper centre) which helped to suspend dancers for short periods. Among other technical pieces of equipment evident are the painted flats at the rear of the scene.
See also "The Development of Leisure in Britain":
Left: Cruikshank's depiction of rather more risque dancing in Greenwhich Fair (1836). Centre: Cruikshank's view of the rising riotous audiences of working class theatres in Making a Night of It (1839). Right: Cruikshank's description of the lower-middle-class's learning to dance the popular steps of the day, The Dancing Academy(1839). [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Above: Cruikshank takes a respite from the grim social realism of the disastrous effects of alcoholism in a realistic glyphograph, From the Gin Shop to the Dancing Rooms, from the Dancing Rooms to the Gin Shop, the Poor Girl is Driven on in That Course Which Ends in Misery. [Click on image to enlarge it.]
The 1800s and the Romantic Ballet." Wish upon a Ballet. Accessed 21 May 2018. http://wish-upon-a-ballet.com/ballet-history/the-1800s-and-the-romantic-ballet/
Cruikshank, George. The Bachelor’s Own Book; Or, The Progress Of Mr. Lambkin, In The Pursuit Of Pleasure And Amusement. Glasgow: David Bryce, 1844, rpt. 1880.
"Core of Culture: Ballet." Accessed 21 May 2018. http://coreofculture.org/ballet.html
McManus, Diane. "Dance and Ballet." Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia, ed. Sally Mitchell. New York and London: Garland, 1988. Page 207.
Last modified 23 May 2018
