Marie Sanlaville (1847–1930) was a leading dancer with the

Paris Opéra The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

. She is particularly noted for her association with the artist

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

, who painted her often and dedicated a rare sonnet to her.

Career

In a career spanning the years 1864–89, Marie Sanlaville was to become a principal ballerina at the Paris Opéra. Her speciality was playing male roles (''en travesti''), which was common at the period, and she eventually succeeded

Eugénie Fiocre Eugénie Fiocre (b. Paris, 2 July 1845, d. 1908) was a principal dancer at the Paris Opéra 1864–75 where she often danced ''en travesti'', creating Frantz in ''Coppélia'' in 1870, and, renowned for her beauty, was sculpted by Jean-Baptiste C ...

as the company’s foremost dancer in this capacity. As such she frequently starred with

Rosita Mauri ''María Isabel Amada Antonia Rosa Mauri Segura'' or ''Roseta Mauri y Segura'' (15 September 1850 – 3 December 1923) was a Spanish dancer and ballet teacher. Her year of birth has also been quoted as between 1849 and 1856. A prima ballerina of ...

, the Opéra's main female lead. She was described by one contemporary as one of the most charming and spirited performers there and another noted that she could dance a role after a single rehearsal. Among her principal roles were the part of the goblin Zail in

Léo Delibes Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic composer, best known for his ballets and operas. His works include the ballets ''Coppélia'' (1870) and '' Sylvia'' (1876) and the opera ''Lakm� ...

’ ''La Source'' (1866); of Eros in ''Sylvia'' (Délibes, 1876); of Pepio in '' Les Deux Pigeons'' (Messager, 1886); and of Harlequin Senior in the 1886 performance of

Charles Lecocq Alexandre Charles Lecocq (3 June 183224 October 1918) was a French composer, known for his opérettes and opéra comique, opéras comiques. He became the most prominent successor to Jacques Offenbach in this sphere, and enjoyed considerable succ ...

's ''Les Jumeaux de Bergame''. Marie's connection with artists was long and sustained. She was the mistress of the American painter

Julius LeBlanc Stewart Julius LeBlanc Stewart (September 6, 1855, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — January 4, 1919, Paris, France), was an American artist who spent his career in Paris. A contemporary of fellow expatriate painter John Singer Sargent, Stewart was nic ...

and later of Count

Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic (17 December 1839 – 27 October 1889) was a French artist, archaeologist and patron of the arts. He was styled as ''Vicomte Lepic'' until his father's death in 1875, when he succeeded to the title of ''Comte Lepic''. ...

, for whom she cared in his final illness. The latter was an artist formerly on the fringes of

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

and a friend of Degas. Through Degas and his connection with the ballet, for which Lepic later designed costumes, he came to know Rosita Mauri and Marie, both of whom posed for him. At one particular session in 1881 he was joined by

Pierre-Georges Jeanniot Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (1848–1934) was a Swiss-French Impressionist painter, designer, watercolorist, and engraver who was born in Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm ...

and the Spanish painter

Adolfo Guiard Adolfo Guiard Larrauri (10 August 1860 – 8 March 1916) was a Spanish painter in the Impressionist style. Biography He was born in Bilbao, Spain, one of the fifteen children of Alphonse Guiard, a photographer who had come from France. The fam ...

. While Mauri and Sanlaville sat for their heads, the two apprentices by whom they were accompanied modelled the ballet poses. One of the fruits of this sitting was the picture of Marie in the role of Fanella that was published in the magazine ''La Vie Moderne'' in February 1882. Guiard also painted a portrait of Marie sitting with a book in her lap which may be intended to underline the intelligence for which she was noted. A photo of that period also pictures her holding a book. There are other pictures of her by Degas. One is a pastel of her seated and holding an umbrella; another is of her in performance in ''Two dancers on the stage'' (c.1874). In addition Degas made seven sketches of her rehearsing ''Les Jumeaux de Bergame'' in 1885. From this session he was eventually to model the sculpture now known as ''Dancer rubbing her knee''. The figure in the pastel on which it is based wears Harlequin's domino costume and carries a

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

in her right hand. Degas depicts the moment in which the dancer in the role of Harlequin Senior, poised with her feet planted in fourth position, is about to pantomime her discovery that the lout she has just attacked with a baton is her brother, Harlequin Junior. Yet another result of this session was the sonnet that Degas dedicated to her in the series of eight by him that have been preserved. :::::All that the fine discourse of dumb-show says, :::::And all the agile and deceitful tongue :::::Of ballet, to those who pierce the mystery :::::Of a body's silently eloquent movement, :::::Stubbornly seeking in a woman who flees :::::Forever, painted, harlequin, severe, :::::The gliding trace of their soul in passage, :::::More alive than the turning of a favorite page, :::::All of that, and a sketch's skilful grace, :::::A dancer has, askance as Atalanta: :::::A serene tradition, hidden to fools. :::::Obscured in the woods, your endless art awaits: :::::Via doubt, a step's oblivion, I dream of you, :::::And you’ve caught the ear of an ancient faun. In this complex poem Degas references some of Marie's former roles, including those of Eros and Harlequin. But he also engages with

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

's theorising about the role of the dancer, particularly in the essay ''Ballets'' (1888) that appeared at the time Degas was writing.His thinking is analysed by Mary Lewis Shaw in ''Apprehending the idea through poetry and dance'', Dance research Journal 20/1, University of Illinois 1988
p.3ff
and by Mary Fleischer in ''Embodied texts: symbolist playwright-dancer collaborations'', New York 2007
p.4ff
/ref> In the final line he characterises himself in the role of the faun in Mallarmé's ''L'après-midi d'un faune''. Marie Sanlaville long outlived her friends and admirers. In 1897 she married Georges Vibert, who died in 1902, and was buried in his tomb in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...

on her own death in 1930.

Career

References

Further reading