Provenance
Friedrich II, King of Prussia [1712-1786], Potsdam; by descent in the Hohenzollern family to Kaiser Wilhelm II [1859-1941] Berlin;[1] sold December 1927 through (Hugo Moser, Berlin) to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased April 1928 by Andrew W. Mellon [1855-1937], Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 1 May 1937 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[2] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] Inv. no. GK I 5297, Generalkatalog of the imperial collection, compiled in the late 19th century; this information was kindly provided by Dr. Christoph M. Vogtherr, curator of paintings, Stiftung Preussische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam, 13 April 1999, letter to Nancy Yeide (NGA curatorial files). The provenance to Prince Carignan and Count von Rothenburg published in _The Rococo Age_, exh. cat., High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1983, no. 43, is incorrect since the painting once belonging to the Prince was of smaller dimensions than the NGA painting. The two paintings purchased by Count von Rothenburg from Prince Carignan for Frederick II were not identified in the letter of 1744 in which they were mentioned.
[2] The Duveen Brothers Records document the company's acquisition of some of Kaiser Wilhelm II's paintings (Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, accession no. 960015, reel 96, box 241, folder 1; copies in NGA curatorial files). On 25 November 1927 the Paris office wrote to New York: "The majority of the Emperor's castles with their contents were taken over by the State... The Government allowed the Kaiser to retain certain pictures as being his own personal property, and these he has the right to sell." On December 5 the Paris office cabled New York that Duveen's offer for the Lancret and another painting had been accepted, and on December 13 Paris reported that the paintings had been delivered safely. The Lancret was then shipped to New York by steamer on 8 February 1928.
The Mellon purchase date and the date deeded to the Mellon Trust are according to Mellon collection records in NGA curatorial files and David Finley's notebook (donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1977, now in the Gallery Archives).
Accession Number
1937.1.89
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 76.2 x 106.7 cm (30 x 42 in.) | framed: 107.3 x 135.9 x 9.2 cm (42 1/4 x 53 1/2 x 3 5/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Canvas French
Background & Context
Background Story
La Camargo Dancing (c. 1730) depicts the most celebrated dancer of the Paris Opera—Marie-Anne de Cupis de Camargo, known as La Camargo—who revolutionized ballet technique by introducing the entrechat and other jumps that transformed the dance from the earthbound style of the early 18th century. Lancret's painting captures La Camargo mid-performance, her costume and pose documenting the specific technique that made her famous. The 1730 date places this during the peak of La Camargo's career—she had debuted at the Paris Opera in 1726 and would dominate the ballet stage for two decades. Her innovation—the footwork that elevated ballet from floor-bound to airborne—was as revolutionary for dance as the technical innovations of the Rococo painters were for visual art. Lancret's treatment of the dancing figure demonstrates his ability to capture movement with the precision that theatrical subjects demanded. The painting's composition—La Camargo against a landscape or architectural backdrop—follows the fête galante convention that Lancret typically employed, but the dancing figure's energy distinguishes this work from the more static social scenes that were his usual subjects.
Cultural Impact
Lancret's La Camargo influenced how ballet performance was represented in 18th-century art, documenting the technical revolution that La Camargo brought to French dance. The painting influenced later artists who depicted dance—from Degas's ballet subjects to the 20th-century dance paintings that traced their origins to La Camargo's innovations. The painting also influenced how women's achievement in performance was documented, preserving La Camargo's contribution with the artistic attention it deserved.
Why It Matters
This painting matters because it captures one of the most significant figures in the history of ballet—the dancer who introduced the aerial technique that transformed the art from earthbound to airborne—at the peak of her revolutionary career. Lancret's painting preserves La Camargo's achievement with the precision that both the fete galante tradition and the history of ballet require.
