9
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The Boleras Dance is a 9 by William Bradford, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This is a print from 1809 showing Spanish peasants dancing in a field. It’s early proof of Brits taking notice of Spanish life after the war with Napoleon. The dancers aren’t dressed up for the stage—they’re in simple clothes, moving under open sky. The dance is a bolero, slow and graceful, born in 1780 for the Spanish court. It later inspired composers like Maurice Ravel. This image keeps it honest: no fancy costumes, just the real rhythm. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum next.
The print depicts two Spanish dancers on a plateau overlooking hills and a lake, with a guitarist seated to the left. The male dancer, facing away, wears a long net cap, a brown jacket with green and red striped epaulettes, blue knee-breeches, white socks, and black shoes, accessorized with red spotted handkerchiefs. His partner, facing the viewer, wears a white shawl over a yellow skirt with a brown hemband, her hair tied back with a pink ribbon and roses at her chest. This early 19th-century work reflects British interest in Spanish customs after the Peninsular War, capturing peasants…
Read the full account in the museum source.
William Bradford (April 30, 1823 – April 25, 1892) was an American romanticist painter, photographer and explorer, originally from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, near New Bedford.
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