Artist
Bertall (French, 1820–1882)French, 1820–1882
CultureFrench
Titles
- Victor Hugo
- from Galerie Contemporaine
Date1860s
PlaceFrance
MediumWoodburytype
DimensionsImage/Sheet: 9 5/16 × 7 9/16 in. (23.7 × 19.2 cm)
Mount: 13 15/16 × 10 5/8 in. (35.4 × 27 cm)
Mount: 13 15/16 × 10 5/8 in. (35.4 × 27 cm)
Credit LineThe Sonia and Kaye Marvins Portrait Collection, museum purchase funded by Sonia and Kaye Marvins
Object number85.49
Not on view
Explore Further
Department
PhotographySpecial Collections
Object Type
Early in the 1870s, the Parisian firm
Goupil et Cie. purchased the French rights to the woodburytype process that had
been developed in England a decade before and began to create one of the most
extensive photographic documentations of celebrated personalities ever
attempted. The firm's periodical, called the Galerie Contemporaine, included
photographs by the noted portraitists Nadar and Etienne Carjat as well as
portraits by the nobleman Vicomte Albert d'Amoux, known as Bertall, who was active
in Paris during the 1860s and early 1870s.
Artists, politicians, and literati
were favorite subjects for the Galerie Contemporaine. Among them was the
writer, Victor Hugo, who, upon his return from political exile on the island of
Guernsey after the downfall of Emperor Napoleon III in 1870, was one of the most sought-after celebrities
to be honored by the magazine. The documentary nature of the photograph is
furthered by Bertall's use of extremely even lighting and the stiff, formal
stance assumed by Hugo.
Provenance[Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco]; purchased by MFAH, 1985.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
verso bottom right corner of mount in pencil "MGC. 105"
printed center below image "VICTOR HUGO"
printed bottom margin below image from left to right "GALERIE CONTEMPORAINE, LITTERAIRE, ARTISTIQUE....126,boulevard de Magenta, Paris....Phot. Goupil et Ce / Cliché Bertall et Ce"
printed bottom margin below image from left to right "GALERIE CONTEMPORAINE, LITTERAIRE, ARTISTIQUE....126,boulevard de Magenta, Paris....Phot. Goupil et Ce / Cliché Bertall et Ce"
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.
Étienne Neurdein
1885
Albumen silver print from glass negative
2016.46
