Helen of Troy
Also known as: Helen of Troy, Helen, Troy
Helen of Troy (Belle Hélène)
Helen of Sparta/Troy, the legendary beauty whose abduction caused the Trojan War. Marie compares herself to her on 18 August 1875: «on devrait me peindre en Belle Hélène. Je ne suis pas belle comme Junon, mais j'ai la grâce et la simplicité de Vénus» (039.0110). Juno and Venus are two of the three goddesses of the Judgement of Paris, whose prize was Helen (Wikipedia, «Judgement of Paris»); Marie's phrase also echoes Offenbach's La Belle Hélène (1864), which she had seen at Nice on 30 April 1875 (032.0207).
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