His appearance at La Scala, Milan, was triumphant, and he remained there for fourteen seasons, as dancer and ballet-composer. Then followed a successful Italian tour. Painters, sculptors and engravers as well as various poets celebrated his progress, and one Venetian painter, having seen him dancing some _pas de deux_ with his famous partner Virginia Leon, in which they entwined and enveloped themselves in rose-coloured veils--presumably very much as Mordkin and Pavlova did in the “L’Automne Bacchanale,” made sketches of the various graceful groupings and afterwards introduced them into the decorations of an apartment in the house of a rich Venetian nobleman. There can be no doubt that the appeal of Blasis’ work to artists was greatly due not merely to his technical excellence as a dancer but to the fact that--steeped as he was in the study of music, sculpture and painting--his work was a living expression of a classic art-spirit. Again and again in his writings he emphasises the necessity the young dancer is under of studying not only music, but drawing, painting and sculpture. In one interesting passage, especially, he remarks: “It is in the best productions of painting and sculpture that the dancer may study with profit how to display his figure with taste and elegance. They are a fountain of beauties, to which all those should repair who wish to distinguish themselves for the correctness and purity of their performances. In the Bacchanalian groups which I have composed, I have successfully introduced various attitudes, arabesques and groupings, the original idea of which was suggested to me, during my journey to Naples and through _Magna Grecia_, on viewing the paintings, bronzes and sculptures rescued from the ruins of Herculaneum.” The publication at Milan, of his first work, in French, _A Theoretical, Practical and Elementary Treatise on the Art of Dancing_, brought Blasis into prominent notice throughout the Continent and in London, owing to press notices and demands for translations of a work that was unrivalled of its kind and is valuable to-day. In 1826 Blasis came to London, where, at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, he was triumphantly received as dancer, actor and ballet-composer. He remained here for some time, and in 1829-1830 published his still more important work, in English, namely, _The Code of Terpsichore_ in which the whole subject of dancing is dealt with exhaustively. The book was “embellished” with numerous line-engravings, accompanied by music, composed by his sisters, Virginia and Teresa Blasis, and was dedicated to Virginia, then Prima Donna of the Italian Opera at Paris. The work was an instant success and did much to further the aim which Blasis had in all his writings, namely, the raising of the art of the Dance and Ballet nearer to a level with the other imitative arts. [Illustration: Carlo Blasis (_From a lithograph_).]