Appearing in the January 1820 edition of La Belle Assemblee, this brief biographical sketch of tight rope walker Madame Saqui highlights her active acrobatics. Beyond being a talented performer, Madame Saqui was also a business woman, although she was best remembered as a Vauxhall performer.
Born Marguerite-Antoinette Lalanne in 1786 in southern France to circus performers, she would be raised in Paris where her parents were part of the Grands Danseurs du Roi. Madame Saqui made her debut in 1791, at the age of five. After an injury made her father move the family to the countryside until a move to Tours where they were reunited with an old circus friend now running the troupe Saleurs Patriotes. After several years of touring, she met Jean Julien Pierre Saqui and they were married in 1805. A year later, the couple moved to Paris where her career began as Madame Saqui.
She was a talented tightrope artist, earning the attention of Napolean who would seek her performances at military events, many of her performances depicting battles until she committeed the faux paux of calling herself first acrobat to His Majesty the Emperor and emblazoning the two headed imperial eage on her carriage without permission. She was advised to leave Paris, and so she travelled to perform in the provinces throughout the early 1810s. During this time, she was rumoured to be having an affair with a captain of the Russian Cossacks stationed in Paris, from which a young child was born who later became Princesse Troubetzkoy.
By 1816, Madame Saqui had landed in London to perform at the Covent Garden Theatre and Vauxhall for the next four years at the pleasure of the Prince Regent.
Her act includes running down a tightrope, with the backdrop of fireworks, or wearing costumes and performing a variety of bits.
Irving, W. (1849). Tales of a Traveller. United States: Putnam.
Saqui often was featured as part of a spectacle of performers at events, including masquerade balls.
You can read about Madame Saqui in my recently released (in UK, US/AUS release at the end of August) Masquerade Balls in Regency Britain:
Readers are saying: “fascinating read and it really opened the doors to see what masquerades were really like in the era of Bridgerton and other of my favorite period dramas”
“I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the social history of the Regency period, especially those curious about the cultural and performative aspects of elite society. It’s a valuable resource for researchers..”
“This fascinating work of scholarship is a feast for the imagination. The level of detail is incredible; the author definitely did her research!… it is a must-read for anyone who enjoys reading or writing about the Regency era in England.”
Now available in the UK or for pre-order in US
*This post was updated from its original in 1817 to add additional biographical details and information about Masquerade Balls in Regency Britain.
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