[HUGO] BERTALL (1820-1882)

[HUGO] BERTALL (1820-1882)

Original photographe (albumen print) of Victor Hugo by Bertall
N.p.n.d [Brussels, 1867], carte-de-visite format
Photographer’s credit on verso
Some flaws (see scan)

Elegant portrait of the exiled poet, seated on a riveted armchair

Gaze fixed on the lens, Hugo sits on an imposing riveted armchair, a book in his right hand. The Poet is then banished to his land of exile in Guernsey, at Hauteville-House. His thick beard is already whitened by age while the mustache still remains brown.

Pseudonym of Charles Constant d’Arnoux de Limoges Saint-Saëns, Bertall is considered one of the most important illustrators of the 19th century in addition to working as a photographer. We know of several portraits of the poet that he made during his trip to Guernsey. Bertall collaborated with Hippolyte Bayard from 1855, then opened with him the Bayard et Bertall photography studio at 15 bis rue de la Madeleine in Paris. He set up his own business from the 1860s at 33, rue Boissy d’Anglas.