Justine saignée chez Gernande (Nlle Justine, 1799, ch13, fig26)

When Bressac arrived at the d'Esterval couple's house, he took them and Justine to his uncle Gernande's house. The d'Estervals also turn out to be related to Gernande: “They are my cousins,” says Gernande, “but I have never seen them” (p. 847). This libertine has a passion for spilling the blood of his victims, especially that of his wife, who has to rest for a few days between each orgy to recover her health: “I bleed,” he summarizes to Dorothée, d'Esterval's wife (p. 851). He gives Justine a job as a servant to his wife before organizing an orgy with his cousins and his nephew.
In the engraving at the bottom left, from right to left, Dorothée is being taken by her husband, who is himself being taken by Bressac, and “two Ganymedes surround them,” one shown from the front on the right, the other from behind on the left. This group constitutes the first scene shown to Gernande, seated in an armchair in the foreground on the right, sucking Zephyr and being sucked by Narcissus, two other young boys of whom he is the master.
D'Esterval and Bressac are depicted on the same level as Dorothée. But on the right, a second scene is offered to Gernande's gaze: Justine being bled, "her arms supported by two black ribbons tied to the ceiling “ (p. 854) and dressed in ”triangular handkerchiefs, tied at the waist" (p. 852) so as not to disgust Gernande and the libertines, who abhor the sight of her sex. She looks plaintively and imploringly at Gernande, who pays no attention to her.
The composition of the engraving is due to the fact that Gernande, seated in his armchair as a spectator facing these two scenes, cannot see anything: Zephyr is blocking his view with his entire body. Bressac and d'Esterval seem to be looking in the direction of Justine and, by extension, Gernande. They are the ones who are truly enjoying the two scenes: Justine being bled and Gernande's lovemaking, which is undoubtedly more to their taste.
Justine, losing blood, tied up and with her arms spread apart, may be reminiscent of representations of Christian martyrs, or even of Christ crucified. Facing Gernande, who is not looking at him, he is presented with a blasphemous polyptych.