This small canvas illustrates a passage from The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. It depicts the moment when Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda, who has been sentenced to hang for a crime she did not commit. Carrying the Egyptian over his shoulder, her neck bare, he is about to enter the cathedral in search of refuge. The scene is reminiscent of the 'historical genre', i.e. a subject is taken from mediaeval or Renaissance history and treated anecdotally. This feature, together with the action in the scene, makes the image seem almost like an illustration. Each time we find ourselves on the borderline between different methods, between historical painting, genre painting and illustration. This genre ambiguity is ideal territory for a female painter. In the history of art, women have often been excluded from the 'great genre' of historical painting, in favour of portraits, still lifes and genre painting; this was the case with Victorine Henry.

After Princess Europe, the Sabines and the daughters of Leucippus, it was Esmeralda's turn to be abducted, with all the erotic implications involved. This pairing of Quasimodo and Esmeralda, one which was very popular with illustrators, offers a particularly romantic theme, that of the beauty and the beast who is capable of feeling. In a Neo-Gothic age, Hugo's novel provided several subjects beloved of artists and led to the revival of historical painting.