Maria Taglioni was born at Stockholm in 1804 of an Italian father and Swedish mother and made her début in Vienna in 1822, in the ballet _Reception d’une jeune Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore_, written by her father, M. Taglioni, who was a ballet master in the Swedish Royal Opera. Inspired by the ideas of Noverre, M. Taglioni laid a solid foundation for his daughter’s training in dancing. Though she was successful in her début in Vienna, the father did not think that she was sufficiently ripe for public appearances in a larger style, so he continued to instruct the girl himself and secured for her education other celebrities of the time. Even when she appeared five years later in _Le Sicilien_, in Paris, she did not arouse any enthusiasm. It was only in _Les Bayaderes_ and, above all, in _La Sylphide_, that her art attained the utmost limits of spirituality and she was hailed as one of the most ethereal appearances that the European stage had ever seen. Taglioni appeared in Paris in _La Vestale_, _Mars et Venus_, _Le Carnaval de Venise_, and many other ballets, which marked the beginning of her career. A French critic of that time writes: ‘Her talent, so instinct with simple grace and modesty, her lightness, the suppleness of her attitudes, at once voluptuous and refined, made a sensation at once. She revealed a new form of dancing, a virginal and diaphanous art, instinct with an originality all her own, in which the old traditions and time-honored rules of choreography were merged. After an appearance of a few days only on our boards, this charming mirage vanished to shine in great triumph at Munich and Stuttgart. But she came back, and an enthusiastic reception awaited her. And in the midst of these brilliant successes, taking the hearts of the people by storm, admitted to the intimate friendship of the Queen of Wurtemberg, she remained sweet, simple and reserved.’ Besides her choreographic training, Taglioni was a highly educated girl in every other respect, and was of the most charming personality and manners. The people, and even her many rivals, loved and adored her as a great artist and great woman. Though not pretty in any sense, as so many other dancers were, she was fascinating through her distinct spiritual appeal. This same note of spirituality manifested itself in her dance. Her admirers used to say that she looked in _La Sylphide_ like some supernatural being always ready to take wing and soar up in the air. Her steps were pure and innocent, as were all her gestures and mimic expressions. Even in her romantic dances she failed to suggest any symptoms of voluptuous or sensual emotions. Throughout her life she remained as poetic as she was in her art.