Ida Brun

From an early age, she exhibited the ability to perform as a singer and dancer, thanks to the encouragement of her mother, who had been impressed by the "attitudes" (or "living sculptures") developed by Lady Emma Hamilton, whom she had seen in Naples in 1796.

In her performances, she would move delicately into each position, freezing for a few seconds before gracefully draping herself in the folds of her tunic so as to represent classical figures such as Iphigenia, Galatea, Eurydice, Diana, Aurora, and Althaea.

[4] Her attitude presentations were admired by contemporary artists such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Germaine de Staël, and particularly by Bertel Thorvaldsen.

[9] Brun developed the attitudes of small ballets, performing without charging fees or receiving a salary, as she came from one of the richest families in Denmark.

After her marriage, Brun concentrated on singing until her husband's death in 1843, when she became the companion of Napoleon's widow, Marie Louise of Parma, who died in 1847.

I have seen Ida, while still a child, represent Althaea about to burn the torch on which the life of her son Meleager depends; she expressed, without a word, the grief, the mental strife, the terrible resolution of a mother.

No doubt her animated looks served to make us understand what was passing in her heart, but the art of varying her gestures, and draping herself artistically in the purple mantle which she wore, produced at least as much effect as her countenance.