The subject, rather than the technique, is a perfect illustration of the artist''s pre-Romanticism. Women fainting was a recurrent theme in literature of the period: "this morning''''s conversation had deeply upset me... my head and my heart ached... I felt myself growing faint... would Heaven take pity on me? ... I could no longer stand up..." Letter XII from Julie d''''Etange in Jean-Jacques Rousseau''''s La Nouvelle Heloise.