L'Heureux, Élise, 1827-1896 : Photographer. Flourished Upper Town, Quebec, Quebec, 1866-1873. Identified with photography studio, Livernois & Bienvenu. She ran the studio in partnership with her husband, Jules-Isaie Benoit dit Livernois and her son-in-law, Louis Fontaine dit Bienvenu.
Born January 22, 1827, in Quebec, Élise L'Heureux is the daughter of Jean-Baptiste L'Hérault dit L'Heureux, master shoemaker and of Elizabeth Couture. On May 9, 1849, she married Jules-Isaïe Benoît dit Livernois. She is the mother of Jules-Ernest Livernois and the grandmother of Jules and Paul Livernois.
L'Heureux first practised the profession of daguerreotypist and collaborated in the management of her husband's photography workshops-studios. When the latter died in 1865, she took over the management of the company Livernois et Compagnie, which was established in the upper town and lower town of Quebec. The following year, she left the Lower Town and joined forces with Louis Fontaine dit Bienvenu, who became her son-in-law a month later. She retains ownership of the business and takes care of the management and finances of the art business, while Bienvenu acts as a photographer.
L'Heureux continues the work of her husband, who had established a varied production, consisting of portraits, historical views, photo-essays and tourist views. With Bienvenu, she offers studio portraits, first in small sizes for business cards, then in larger sizes for album cards (or artistic cards). It also offers several collections and mosaics of portraits of contemporary or historical figures, and snapshots of Canadian, European and American works of art. With her partner, she contacts educational establishments and religious communities to produce their group portraits and official photographs. In 1866, together with her son-in-law, she finished the illustrations, first undertaken by her husband, for the album Sites and Plants of Canada (1866) by Louis-Ovide Brunet, an early photographic experiment in botanical illustration presented at the 1867 Paris exposition. Also with her partner, she offered views of Quebec and Charlevoix, some of which were reproduced in engravings and printed in the illustrated periodicals L'Opinion publique and Canadian Illustrated News between 1869 and 1875.
In 1873, her son Jules-Ernest Livernois joined the company, which then took the name of Livernois, Bienvenu et Cie. This association, which experienced financial difficulties, was dissolved during the same year and L'Heureux left full ownership of the art trade to her son.
She died in Quebec in January 1896.
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