Émilie BOUNIEU(1767-1831) - Hélène busy embroidering, sees Laodicé arrive

Émilie Bounieu (Paris, 1767 - Paris, 1831).

Hélène busy embroidering, sees Laodicé arrive.

1800.
Oil on canvas.
H: 131; W: 88 cm.

Exhibitions: Salon des Artistes Vivants, Paris, 1800, no. 50: “Hélène, busy embroidering, sees Laodice arrive.”

Reviews:
- Journal des débats et des décrets, October 28, 1800, p. 2.
- Mercure de France, no. 9, November 22, 1800, p. 44.

This text is only an excerpt. The complete notice can be provided upon request]

At the 1800 Salon, Émilie Bounieu exhibited, under number 50, a Hélène, busy embroidering, sees Laodicé arrive, a technical and intellectual tour de force, particularly accomplished in its execution and complex in its subtle references.
The format, as well as the character's attitude and the color of her costume, is an unequivocal tribute to Nanine Vallain's Liberty, which adorned the meeting room of the Jacobin Club until 1794. The Bounieu family knew Charles Duval intimately, who served as secretary and then president of the Jacobin Club from March 26 to April 6, 1794. It is therefore not surprising that Vallain's Liberty, as a symbol of the revolutionary convictions of the young Bounieu, served as a model for her Hélène.
Bounieu did not stop there. Many elements were inspired by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin's Marcus Sextus, a masterpiece unanimously praised at the previous Salon and admired by these “thirty women painters” during a meal in 1799.
Thus, the subject chosen by Bounieu can be interpreted as a variation on Guérin's work, this time from the perspective of the female experience. Alone in a foreign country, passive and watching her people kill each other, is Hélène not representative of the fate of women in exile during the revolutionary episodes? To reinforce the connection with Guérin in terms of dramatic force, Bounieu uses a number of interesting effects: light, petrified faces, scenery, objects, colors. And she references Guérin by depicting, particularly on Hélène's himation, the flowing, wet drapery so characteristic of Guérin's painting.

Finally, it is likely that Bounieu's self-portrait merges with Hélène's face. She thus reiterates an idea already implemented in Marie-Geneviève Bouliar's Aspasie, a feminine masterpiece unanimously praised when it was exhibited at the Salon of 1795 and presented again to the public in 1796 due to its immense success.

It should be noted that the young artist was criticized by critics for lending her features to her Hélène: the Journal des débats et des décrets stated that “the head lacks the ideal beauty appropriate to the subject,” and the Mercure de France wrote ironically that “Mademoiselle Bounieu certainly took as her model a very pretty French woman, very busy enjoying having her portrait painted.”

Another painting by Bounieu, exhibited at the Salon of 1808, was described as follows in Le Journal des Débats: "It was quite a difficult idea to convey in painting, that joyful adage, in vino veritas. Here is what Mlle Bounieu imagined (No. 69): a beautiful, naked woman, holding a mirror sparkling with rays of light, crouching in a glass of wine." It is known today thanks to its engraving, which was attributed to her father in the past. It shows Bounieu's interest in frontal, full-length female figures, accompanied by attributes highlighted by a sober frame.