2-798-670 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Taglioni's Farewell - by Kenny Meadows, 1845. The final performance - or swansong - of Italian ballerina Maria Taglioni: '...one of the first and greatest dancers who ever graced the stage, and one to whose example we owe that poetical and elevated style of dancing which characterises, more or less, those whom she has left behind as worthy to occupy her place...the applause, as may be anticipated, was long and loud; bouquets in profusion fell at the feet of the charming danseuse, and she acknowledged them with a gratitude that she must have really felt towards the British public, who were amongst the first to appreciate her talent and are the last to bid her adieu...we may venture to assert that no real lover of art who witnessed her farewell on Saturday night but experienced a feeling of real regret'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.