{"id":241,"date":"2022-05-02T21:40:25","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T20:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/?p=241"},"modified":"2023-05-15T18:15:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T17:15:00","slug":"images-of-emilie-bigottini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/2022\/05\/02\/images-of-emilie-bigottini\/","title":{"rendered":"Images of Emilie Bigottini"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By SARAH McCLEAVE<\/strong><\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c9milie Bigottini (1784-1858) is an example of a dancer who successfully negotiated a complicated personal life and a glittering professional career. Born into a theatrical family, she studied at the ballet school of the Paris Op\u00e9ra, joining its corps de ballet<\/em> in 1801. Three years later she was promoted to soloist, becoming a principal dancer in 1813. Her moving performance in the title-role of Louis Milon\u2019s Nina, ou La Folle par l\u2019Amour <\/em>(1813) is considered her \u201cgreatest triumph\u201d.1<\/sup> My interest in this dancer was piqued by reading some of her correspondence in the New York Public Library, which documents part of Bigottini’s dispute with the estate of Monsieur Casimir Louis\u202fGousagne\u202fMarie Alphonse Ormand\u202fPignatelly. Pignatelly was the father of her daughter Amadine Alphonsine (b. 10 April 1807). In a letter to a social contact (M. de Joli, mayor of Creteil) dated 23 July 1812 we learn that Bigottini\u202fis constrained from contesting the succession of\u202f Pignatelly\u2019s\u202festate, designated to fall to his nephew. She notes that three-eighths\u202fof the estate has been set aside her their daughter \u2013 but verbally\u202fPignatelly\u202fhad indicated she would receive more than this.\u202fReferring to the ‘prejudice’ of Pignatelly’s executor, the dancer declares her intention to secure\u202f\u201can honourable existence\u201d (une\u202fexistence\u202fhonorable) for herself and\u202ftheir daughter.2<\/sup> Whether she secured a larger portion of Pignatelly’s estate or not, we can assume that Bigottini achieved her ultimate aim as her daughter – described as “a wealthy woman” – was subsequently to marry the respectable notary Jean Baptise Daloz in 1827.3<\/sup> Sadly, Amandine would predecease her mother by some 25 years. Bigottini’s fortune at her death is reported as amounting to 3.5 million francs, which she used to set up a charitable foundation.4<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite her financial status, Bigottini’s cares as a mother would continue: in a letter dated 14 June 1822 she wrote the Op\u00e9ra management to serve notice that she could not perform due to the continued indisposition of her daughter.5<\/sup> Bigottini’s correspondence reveals a side to the lives of many female dancers, particularly those with children born outside the institution of marriage. Futures had to be secured (a notably delicate matter in the case of a daughter), and care arranged. Bigottini had two additional children with General G\u00e9raud-Christophe-Michel Duroc and counted amongst her lovers Napoleon’s stepson Eug\u00e8ne de Beauharnais. Her biographer Bouvier prefers to emphasise the financial benefits Bigottini accrued through these relationships, but her correspondence reveals the worry and the work behind the apparent fa\u00e7ade of easy comfort. Notably, Bigottini preferred to remain an active professional until the age of 39 rather than to retire early on the fortunes of her lovers.

Bigottini was the subject of several portraits. The image that best captures a vivacious personality in performance is Jacques Vallin’s depiction of her in the role of a bacchante – this can be discovered by scrolling through the online gallery<\/a> of the Bowes Museum. Further personal portraits of this dancer exist — including a most elegant pencilled image of the dancer in motion drawn by Louis Lafitte<\/a> (1770-1828). In this blog we will consider instead a selection of images that represent the institutional interests of the Acad\u00e9mie Royale de Musique.

Online digital collections such as Gallica (https:\/\/gallica.bnf.fr\/) and the New York Public Library (https:\/\/digitalcollections.nypl.org\/) evidence the existence of various commercial series of images, promoted by the theatres of Paris and featuring their performance personnel. These series are particularly notable from the 1820s. The four costume prints show below have Godefroy Engelmann (1788-1839) as the lithographer. According to The Dictionary of Art<\/em>, he was \u2018instrumental\u2019 in promoting and developing lithography in Paris from the mid 1810s until his death in 1839, so the Paris Op\u00e9ra was paying for an accomplished artist.6<\/sup> First we have Bigottini in the title-role of Clari<\/em>, a ballet-pantomime by Louis Milon with music by Rodolphe Kreutzer first performed on 19 June 1820. Clari is the daughter of a rich farmer but has been kidnapped by the Duc Melville and brought up as his daughter. The ballet\u2019s sub-title suggests its focus: \u2018La promesse de la mariage\u2019. Here we can compare Bigottini with one Mme Courtin. The most personalised aspect of these images is the evident difference to the dancers\u2019 figures; Mme Courtin has a protruding bust while Bigottini does not. Clearly the interest lies in the costumes rather than the personalities of the dancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Image left: Bigottini in Clary<\/em> (1820), lithograph G. Engelmann, copyright Victoria and Albert Museum. Image right: Mme. Courtin in Clary, lithograph G. Engelmann, copy New York Public Library<\/mark>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also see Bigottini as Victor in Jean-Pierre Aumer\u2019s ballet, Les pages du duc de Vend\u00f4me<\/em>. This pantomime-ballet, with music by Adalbert Gyrowetz, opened at the Paris Op\u00e9ra on 18 October 1820. Victor is the son of Marimon, an elderly Colonel. Engelmann\u2019s rendition of Aumer in the title-role makes an interesting juxtaposition with Bigottini in her trousers role. The costumes are broadly similar, although Aumer\u2019s has stronger lines while there is a softness to both Bigottini\u2019s costume and her pose. Aumer\u2019s boots are far more substantial, and he alone bears a sword.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Image left: Bigottini as Victor in Les Pages de duc de Vend\u00f4me<\/em> (1820), lithograph by G. Engelmann, copyright Victoria & Albert Museum. Image left: Jean Aumer as the duc de Vend\u00f4me, lithograph by G. Engelmann, copy Gallica.Pierre <\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My final selection for this blog shows Bigottini and her younger peer Lise Noblet (1801-1852) as drawn by Pierre Roch Vigneron (1789-1872) for a series \u2018Collection du Corsaire\u2019. Gallica describes \u2018Le Corsaire\u2019 as a publisher, but the print of Noblet was published by its lithographic printer, C. de Lasteyrie. These portraits appear very generic, conveying a limited sense of the personality or essence of the sitters; the backgrounds suggest a highly smudged outdoor locale that would have taken a minimum of trouble to produce. Presumably they were mass produced for the cheaper end of the art market. Gallica holds further portraits from this series, including artists from the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre-Fran\u00e7ais and the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre des Nouveaut\u00e9s, engraved by Engelmann, or by one Demanne.7<\/sup> The artist and lithographer Vigneron was also apparently active as a portraitist for the \u2018Collection du Courrier des Spectacles\u2019, which produced thespian images in a similar style and format.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
\u00c9milie Bigottini (left), and Lise Noblet (right), both drawn by Pierre Vigneron for the ‘Collection du Corsaire’ series. Copies public domain: New York Public Library.<\/mark><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The commercial reproduction of costume sketches as well as portraits by the third decade of the nineteenth century offers a proliferation of images related to performers in the Parisian theatres – particularly the Op\u00e9ra. This kind of infrastructure was not in operation in London during the same period. Indeed, from our first post regarding Mlle Subligny we have drawn on this earlier development of performer portraiture in Paris. It is interesting to speculate what the visual legacy regarding Mlle Parisot might have been, had she remained in Paris rather than chancing her luck in London. Bigottini – who never danced in London – was at least spared the London satirists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
  1. Babsky, M. 2005. ‘Bigottini, \u00c9milie.’ International Encyclopedia of Dance<\/em>. www-oxfordreference-com.<\/li>
  2. ‘\u00c9milie Bigottini.’ Walter Toscanini Collection volume 3. New York Public Library.<\/li>
  3. Petit-Konczyk, M. 2015. The Creators of the north France coastal forest from 1845 to 1885, p. 9. ResearchGate; see also Bouvier, F. 1909. Une danseuse de l’Op\u00e9ra : La Bigottini<\/em>. Paris: N. Charavay, p. 29.<\/li>
  4. Bouvier, p. 32n2.<\/li>
  5. ‘\u00c9milie Bigottini.’ Walter Toscanini Collection volume 3. New York Public Library.<\/li>
  6. ‘Engelmann, Godefroy.’ 1996. The Dictionary of Art<\/em>. Edited by Jane Turner. London: Macmillan.<\/li>
  7. Emilia Bigottini (1825), Mlle Quiney of the Acad\u00e9mie Royale de Musique (lithographer Engelmann), Nicola-Baptiste Anselm of the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre-Fran\u00e7ais (lithographer Demanne), and Mme Albert (Louise Albert-Himm) of the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre des Nouveaut\u00e9s.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Next post<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The next post will consider portraits of the dancer Marie Sall\u00e9 (1709-1756).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By SARAH McCLEAVE \u00c9milie Bigottini (1784-1858) is an example of a dancer who successfully negotiated a complicated personal life and a glittering professional career. Born into a theatrical family, she studied at the ballet school of the Paris Op\u00e9ra, joining its corps de ballet in 1801. Three years later she was promoted to soloist, becoming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,1],"tags":[84,86,85],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dancebiography","category-uncategorised","tag-emilie-bigottini","tag-godefroy-engelmann","tag-pierre-roch-vigneron"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/dancebiographies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}