Pauline Duvernay

Duvernay, Pauline (b Paris, 1813, d Norfolk, 1894). French dancer. She studied with F. Taglioni and Vestris at the Paris Opera school making her debut in Mars et Vénus in 1831. She made her London debut in Aumer's La Belle au bois dormant in the same year. In 1836 she scored a huge personal success as Florinda in Coralli's Le Diable boîteux (revived as The Devil on Two Sticks) at Drury Lane. She was generally a great favourite with audiences due to her delicate beauty and elegant technique, but her career was adversely affected by a disastrous love affair and she retired in 1837, marrying an English banker in 1845.