Hélène Boullé
Imaginary Journey
English 4851
Activity One
Week 2: Imaginary Journey - Hélène Boullé
Hélène Boulle was born in Paris in 1598. Her parents were Marguerite Alix and Nicolas Boullé, the secretary of the King’s Chamber to Henry IV. She was one of four children born to the couple (1).

This image is of Charles I's five eldest children in 1637, as I could not find an image of Hélène's family, this is around the same time period and probably similar to how her noble family would have dressed. While we know that Hélène definitely had a younger brother, Eustache, the other sibling genders are unknown. Her siblings would have been dressed in similar style to the ones in this photo. Little boys and girls would dress similarly to adults. In 1629 and 1633 Louis Xlll of France tried to simplify clothing by prohibiting lace, gold trim, and lavish embridery for all expect the highest noblilities. (Kõhler, Carl: A History of Costume, p. 289)
An image of a young child in France in the 1600s. Children were not dressed in play clothes but stuffy, full length dresses were highly in fashion for nobles.
