Nathalie Fitzjames and Auguste Mabille dancing in Giselle

What you are looking at

A lithograph showing two dancers in a moment of theatrical lift and turn, captured mid-movement against a plain background with subtle shading beneath them. The male dancer, in dark jacket and light trousers, supports and propels the female dancer upward and outward; she is airborne, her body extended and tilted, her left arm raised and right arm outstretched for balance. She wears a romantic-era tulle skirt that billows and catches the light, along with a fitted bodice and what appears to be a headdress or flower in her dark hair. Both dancers' faces are turned toward the viewer, their expressions engaged and focused. The composition emphasizes the verticality and drama of the lift—a moment of apparent weightlessness frozen mid-performance. The printing technique and the careful gradation of tone create dimensionality despite the minimal setting.

The dancing

The male dancer is in a deep supporting position, his body angled to provide leverage for the lift; the female dancer is elevated, her weight controlled by his grip (likely at her waist), her upper body arched backward in a line of extension. Her legs are not clearly visible beneath the tulle skirt, but her upper body alignment and the angle of her shoulders suggest control and training. This is a partnered lift requiring significant technical skill from both dancers: the man must support and propel, the woman must yield and extend while remaining centered. The intimacy and coordination of the hold—a feature of romantic ballet—is unmistakable.

The dance depicted

This is romantic-era ballet, almost certainly a pas de deux or highlighted moment from a full-length ballet. The catalogue identifies the dancers as Nathalie Fitzjames and Auguste Mabille in Giselle, which is plausible; Giselle (first performed 1841) was a flagship romantic work featuring such lifts. The image captures a typical romantic moment—the male as active supporter, the female as ethereal and weightless—that defines the aesthetic of the period. The dress, the lift technique, and the theatrical presentation all align with 1840s–1860s ballet practice. The image appears to document a specific performance or famous partnership, though without inscription visible in the print itself, identification relies on the catalogue record.

How it was made

This is a lithograph, a planographic printing process in which an image is drawn on stone and printed. The artist has used subtle tonal gradation (crayon work) to model the figures and suggest the space around them; the shading beneath the dancers' feet creates the illusion of a lit stage. Lithography allowed rapid reproduction and circulation of dance imagery to a wide audience—prints like this were affordable souvenirs and promoted dancers and productions. The technique's capacity for fine detail and tonal variation made it ideal for capturing the delicate fabrics and expressive poses of romantic ballet. This print was likely produced as a commercial promotional object, distributed to theater patrons, critics, and dance enthusiasts.

About this work

This lithograph documents a celebrated moment in romantic ballet—the lift, that dramatic display of male strength and female weightlessness that defined the aesthetic of the 1840s–1860s. It records (by catalogue attribution) Nathalie Fitzjames and Auguste Mabille performing in Giselle, one of the era's most important works. The image is both an artwork capturing a specific historical partnership and a technical study of romantic ballet technique: the hold, the extension, the costume, the moment of suspension. It belongs in a dance archive because it preserves not just a celebrated performance but the embodied practice of romantic ballet at its height.

How to look at it

Observe the line of the female dancer's body—the arch from her extended left arm down through her torso—and how the male dancer's positioning beneath her makes that line possible. Notice how the tulle skirt, caught mid-motion, serves a visual function: it emphasizes weightlessness and catches light in a way that a rigid or heavier skirt would not. The lithographic gradation of tone is doing work too: the shading beneath the figures anchors them to a stage while the plain background keeps attention on the bodies. This is a moment of suspension, not a step; the artist chose the instant of lift rather than descent or preparation.

The period

The romantic ballet era (roughly 1830–1870) elevated the female dancer and the illusion of weightlessness as its central aesthetic. Lifts and supported arabesques became signature technical displays, showcasing the male dancer as enabler of the female dancer's otherworldly presence. Giselle (1841) was one of the canonical works of this movement, and dancing in it was a mark of international prestige. Commercial lithographs of celebrated dancers were a major medium for promoting performances and cementing performers' reputations; they circulated widely and were collected by audiences. This print reflects both the artistic values of romantic ballet and the commercial infrastructure that supported it.

Where it lives

This print is held in the New York Public Library's collection of prints depicting dance. It appears in that collection as a record of theatrical dance imagery and may be part of a larger acquisition of romantic-era dance prints.

Dance in this work

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