Auguste Rodin and Alexis Rudier, Paris

Bust of Victor Hugo

Original model 1883; this cast before 1928

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Auguste Rodin and Alexis Rudier, Paris

Bust of Victor Hugo

Artist: Auguste Rodin
Foundry: Alexis Rudier, Paris

Bust of Victor Hugo

Original model 1883; this cast before 1928

Physical Qualities Bronze, 18 x 10 x 10 in. (45.7 x 25.4 x25.4 cm.)

Credit Line Gift of Therese and Richard Lansburgh, Baltimore

Object Number 1998.531

Victor Hugo, France’s greatest romantic writer and author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables, had just celebrated his eightieth birthday when Rodin was introduced to him in 1883. Rodin was impressed by the writer’s bearing and observed, “I thought I had seen a French Jupiter.” Having already posed for two other sculptors, Hugo was reluctant to sit for yet another portrait but eventually agreed to tolerate the sculptor’s presence. It is said that he never formally posed. Instead, Rodin made countless small drawings and relied on memory as he modeled the head.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by partial and promised gift, 1998; remaining 50% interest transferred, 2014; Therese and Richard Lansburgh, Baltimore

The Baltimore Museum of Art, "New on View", June 19-Oct. 6, 2002.

Oliver C. Shell, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Rodin: Expression and Influence", August 1, 2007-April 6, 2008.

Rena Hoisington, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "New Arrivals: Gifts of Art for a New Century", February 7-May 8, 2016.