Paul of Franconi's circus

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This photomechanical print reproduces an 1823 lithograph by Martha Sarah Rolls showing Paul, a performer with Franconi's circus, in the middle of a feat of horsemanship. The Franconi family ran one of the most important equestrian troupes of the early nineteenth century, and their Paris ring drew audiences with spectacle that combined trick riding, acrobatics and staged drama. Pictures like this one helped spread the reputations of such performers beyond the arena, since a printed image could carry a famous rider's likeness to people who never saw a show. The reproduction was made decades after the original, between 1900 and 1960, which means the image preserves a record of the 1820s circus at a second remove.

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