Today in 1621 the Ballet d’Apollon (Ballet of Apollo), also known as the Ballet du Roy (the King’s Ballet), was first performed by the Ballet de Cour of Louis XIII. This costume design for role of Apollo the Shepherd in the Ballet d’Apollon will feature in the Europe Galleries’ Music display.
The costume consists of a tunic and breeches decorated with leaf motifs in a pink-red and grey-blue (perhaps silver); a ruff which seems to suggest leaves or petals; and a wide brimmed hat decorated with a brown-gold laurel. The figure is holding a shepherd’s crook in his right-hand.
Dancing and playing a musical instrument were an essential part of a noble education. Ballets of the 17th century were performed at court, by rulers and courtiers as well as professional dancers. They were based on social dances of the day but elevated them to an elaborate art form, combining choreography with poetry, music, song and pageantry.
Ballet was particularly popular at the royal court of Louis XIII, where performers included courtiers, professional dancers and the king himself. Louis XIII adored dancing and in addition to performing, also devised some of the ballets himself.
The Ballet d’Apollon was commissioned by Charles d’Albert, duc de Luynes, a powerful nobleman and favourite of Louis XIII. The music was composed by Antoine Boësset and court poets René Bordier and Théophile de Viau contributed verses. The detailed costume designs required for the ballet suggest the extravagant
The Duc de Luynes used his commissioning of Ballet d’Apollon to promote his own political interests. He was bold and self-assured enough to take-on and dance the role of the sun god himself, whilst giving the king the part of a blacksmith. The part of Apollo the Shepherd was danced by several performers, including both the king and the Duc de Luynes.
The names of those who played Apollo the Shepherd are written on the design: ‘le Roy, Monsieur le Conte de Soissons, Monsieur le Grand Prieur et Monsieur de Luynes‘.
This design is one of a group of 69 costume designs for the court ballets of Louis XIII, now in the V&A’s Theatre Collections. The group were acquired from a collection of 188 designs discovered in a private library in Germany, bound in an album that apparently dated from the 1580s. Each design is numbered, indicating that the whole collection originally contained 239 items.
The group of 69 designs date from 1615-1635 and are all from the workshop of the French draughtsman, designer, printmaker and engineer Daniel Rabel (1578-1637).
The son of the engraver Jean Rabel (ca.1545–1603), Daniel Rabel had an association with the French court from 1610 onwards, as the designer of numerous costumes for spectacular entertainments performed by and for the court. A multi-talented man, in 1625 he was also made Ingénieur du Roi (King’s Engineer).
In addition to his costume designs, Rabel produced over 230 etchings through his lifetime. These include cartouches, landscapes, flowers and genre scenes. The V&A has six examples of Rabel’s cartouches in the French auricular style, from a suite of twelve designs entitled ‘Cartouches de differentes Inventions. Tres Utilles a plussieurs sortes de Personnes’. Rabel’s cartouche prints are credited with helping to introduce the auricular style to France.
Despite his forays into other areas, from 1617 until his death in 1637, Rabel was primarily a set designer for theatres and for ballets de cour, and designed ballet costumes.
The subjects of ballets ranged from the classical to the burlesque and often included elements of satire. Designers were expected to create fantastical costumes that astonished the court with their inventiveness. Rabel often made deliberate use of a 16th-century tradition of the grotesque in his creations of exaggerated comic figures, with extreme facial distortions and eye-catching accessories.
Looking through the rest of the 69 costume designs, it is clear that they were ‘working drawings’, with many of them annotated with instructions on materials and colours for the costume makers. I have to admit that I was rather surprised by just how comical and surreal some of the designs are. I thought I’d end today by sharing with you some of my favourites of Rabel’s rather astonishing and outlandish designs.
