Jean Bercher Dauberval, ne à Montpellier le 19 avril 1742

What you are looking at

A circular profile portrait in the neoclassical mode dominates the composition, centered on the page within a ruled rectangular border. The sitter is shown in left profile, head and shoulders only, rendered in fine stippled engraving against a plain background. Below the portrait runs a curved decorative ribbon or cartouche bearing an inscription. The entire composition is spare and formal, typical of 18th-century commemoration. The profile itself is delicately modeled with attention to the line of the nose, lips, and chin; the hair is dressed in the fashion of the 1740s, swept back and gathered. No dance is depicted in the image itself—this is a portrait memorial, not a scene of movement.

The dancing

A single human head in profile. No gesture, pose, or body movement is represented. This is an image of commemoration through physiognomy alone, not a depiction of dance practice or performance.

The dance depicted

The image does not depict dance. It is a commemorative portrait of Jean Bercher Dauberval, a figure historically significant to the history of ballet (he was a dancer, choreographer, and reformer of the 18th century), but the artwork itself shows no dancing body and tells us nothing about how he danced or choreographed.

How it was made

This is an engraving, executed in the stippled or dotted manner typical of fine portraiture of the later 18th century. The technique allowed for subtle modeling of light and shadow across the face and created a surface suitable for mass reproduction and circulation as a print. The fineness of execution suggests a work aimed at an educated audience—collectors, dancers, or patrons of the theater who might have known Dauberval's name.

About this work

This is a commemorative engraved portrait of Jean Bercher Dauberval (1742–1806), the influential French ballet reformer and choreographer. Although Dauberval was a pivotal figure in theatrical dance—he was the creator of *La Fille Mal Gardée* and an advocate for naturalism and pantomimic expression in ballet—this image is not a dance picture. It serves instead as a record of his likeness and reputation within the circuits of 18th-century theatrical culture. The work belongs in a dance collection as a document of how the profession commemorated and recognized its innovators, even when the commemoration itself is purely portraiture.

The inscription on the cartouche (which reads "Jean Bercher Dauberval, né à Montpellier le 19 avril 1742") anchors the image to a specific person and birthdate. For historians of dance, such portraits functioned as certificates of identity and achievement within the world of theater. This print circulated among dancers, choreographers, and theater-goers as a form of celebrity portraiture.

How to look at it

Study the proportions and character expressed in the profile: the refinement of line, the attention to physiognomy, and the careful rendering of contemporary dress. The formal conventions of commemorative portraiture—the ruled frame, the cartouche, the centered placement—tell you this is a work of record, not a moment of action. Note how the engraver has used stippling to create volume and depth in the face, creating an illusion of three-dimensionality from millions of tiny dots. This technical accomplishment was the selling point: it proved the engraver's skill and the subject's worthiness of such labor.

The artist

The engraver is not named in the catalogue record. Based on the style, this is likely the work of a specialized portrait engraver working in the Paris theater circles of the later 18th century, possibly in the 1770s or 1780s. Such prints were produced by workshops that created commemorative likenesses of celebrated dancers and performers for sale to the public and for use in theatrical publications.

The period

This portrait dates to the era of Dauberval's artistic maturity and fame. In the 1760s and 1770s, ballet was undergoing significant reform, driven by thinkers like Jean-Georges Noverre (whose *Lettres sur la danse* appeared in 1760) and by dancers and choreographers like Dauberval who sought to elevate the art form by introducing coherent narrative, character psychology, and expressive mime. The circulation of engraved portraits of celebrated dancers became a common practice, as the profession gained cultural prestige and a wider public following. Such prints were sold in theaters and printshops, making the faces of celebrated artists recognizable to urban audiences.

Where it lives

Held in the New York Public Library as part of a collection of prints depicting dance. The work is a loose print, likely part of a broader assemblage of theater and dance portraiture accumulated by collectors of 18th-century visual culture.

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