Henriette Browne

File:Henriette Browne 1.jpg

Fellah nord africaine, 1867

Sophie de Bouteiller (June 16, 1829 – 1901), better known by the pseudonym Henriette Browne, was a French Orientalist painter and traveler.

Browne was born in Paris on June 16, 1829. She was the wife of diplomat Henry Jules de Saux, secretary of Count Walewksi. She is considered a pioneer in Orientalist painting.

Career as an artist

Browne studied under Charles Joshua Chaplin beginning in 1851. In 1853, she began exhibiting under the name Henriette Browne, mainly in France and England. She was one of the three female founding members of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1862.

During the age of empire, Browne's academic paintings of religious and oriental subjects found appeal among British and French audiences. Noted for her images of white European women as religious figures, her work's mission was to influence colonial subjects to the conversion of Christianity. She also painted harems and dancing girls, presenting woman as the exotic colonial other.

Selected works

• Enfant écrivant (1860–1880), Victoria and Albert Museum
• La Lecture de la Bible (1857), Christchurch Art Gallery (New Zealand)
• Le Catéchisme (1857)
• La Religieuse (1859), National Museums Liverpool
• Une Beauté orientale (1861), private collection
• La Captive grecque (1863), National Gallery
• Fellah nord africaine (1867), private collection
• Portrait de femme (1877), private collection

External links

• Figuration Féminine: Henriette Browne (1829-1901)