Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00012995Portrait of Victor Hugo on Guernsey
by Edmond Bacot
About the Artwork
Victor Hugo, a passionate human rights advocate, was a fierce critic of Napoleon III and the Second Empire and had to live in exile from 1851 to 1870. His novel Les Misérables (inspiration for the 1985 musical) focused on the need for social and political change. Edmond Bacot, a fan and family friend of the author, photographed him twice, the first time in 1852 and, at Hugo’s invitation, in 1862 on the island of Guernsey, the year that Les Misérables was published.
Inscriptions
in pencil: "Victor Hugo"
Exhibition history
France at the Dawn of Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 24, 2010).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Edmond Bacot (French, 1814–1875)
- Date
- 1862
- Medium
- albumen print from wet collodion negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 16 x 11 cm (6 5/16 x 4 5/16 in.); Mounted: 31.7 x 22.3 cm (12 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.); Paper: 18.1 x 13.2 cm (7 1/8 x 5 3/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 2001.52
More by Edmond Bacot in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00012995
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