Through an Opera Glass Darkly - Alfred Edward Chalon R.A. observes the 'Romantic Ballet'

Without any possible doubt, the history of dance on the London stage would be immeasurably diminished without the contribution of the Swiss-born English artist and distinguished Royal Academician Alfred Edward Chalon. His masterpieces in this genre, 'The Celebrated Pas de Quatre' and 'Marie Taglioni as La Bayadere' grace almost every survey of 19th-century dance. But is there more to these images than just a professional, or even a commercial interest? Do they reflect the artist as a man - and does the man so revealed, and the images he produces, give us any insight into the dance of that era that we would not otherwise be aware of? 


About the author

Keith Cavers MPhil, FRSA, PSA Scot. is an independent curator, scholar and consulting iconographer. He studied management at RADA and the history of drawing and printmaking at Camberwell. His MPhil thesis at the University of Surrey was on the dancer and choreographer James Harvey D'Egville. This led to a visiting research fellowship at Harvard in 1996 where he recently returned to pursue research in both 2015 and 2016. He was Slide Librarian and a visiting lecturer at Camberwell for 20 years and Information Officer at the National Gallery for twelve. His latest discoveries are two hitherto unrecorded portraits of the dancer Giovanna Baccelli and a set design for Pharamond (Paris Opera 1820) by Ciceri. During the Covid lockdown he has been compiling a 'Chronological Sourcebook' (of over 400,000 words) and an iconography (of over 400 items) charting the history of the ballet in London (mostly) from 1776 to 1836. 

Author
Keith Cavers
Author affiliation
Independent Scholar