Portret van Adèle Foucher before 1850

Émilien Desmaisons created this portrait of Adèle Foucher, wife of Victor Hugo, as a print in France. Adèle's image joins a series entitled "Les belles femmes de Paris," suggesting it functioned as a kind of celebrity portrait for public consumption. We can consider this image as a representation of bourgeois feminine ideals of the 19th century. The print makes meaning through visual codes, such as Adèle’s stylish dress, jewelry, and carefully arranged hair, signaling her social standing. Her demure pose and placid expression construct an image of feminine virtue and domesticity. The image operates within the economic structures of 19th century France, tied to the rise of print culture and the commodification of images. If we want to dig deeper, resources in libraries, archives, and online databases could give us more information about the printing and publishing industries during the period, and more insight into the institutional conditions under which this portrait was produced.