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La retraite de Flore

Edward Morton

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Romanticism Classical Antiquity

Dominant colour

La retraite de Flore is a 2 by Edward Morton, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Edward Morton
When & what style?: 2 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This is a print from 1836 called *La retraite de Flore*. It’s by Edward Morton, who worked in Romanticism. The print is hand-colored and was published in London. It mocks a famous ballet by Charles-Louis Didelot. The original sketch was even signed by William Makepeare Thackeray under a fake name. Want to see more like this? Look up the artist: Morton, Edward.

The story of this work

Overview

The hand-coloured print *La retraite de Flore*, engraved by Edward Morton and published in London on 1 March 1836, depicts a female dancer in a domestic setting conversing with two men while a chaperone sits nearby. The original sketch was signed by T.W. (Théophile Wagstaff), a pseudonym used by writer William Makepeace Thackeray for a series of eight caricatures mocking Charles-Louis Didelot’s ballet *Flore et Zéphire*. This print is part of a set of engravings by Morton after Wagstaff’s drawings. A label on the reverse indicates it was given to Gabrielle Enthoven by Alexander Macmillan in…

Read the full account in the museum source.