Hugo, best known as a novelist who wrote such classics of French nineteenth-century literature as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables, was also a thoroughly original and inventive artist. Untrained—and therefore free from the constraints of academic convention—he experimented with unusual materials and techniques that foreshadowed the automatic processes of the Surrealists. This visionary image of a ruined castle on a hill is a dark, stormy scene derived from the artist's memory and imagination and made while he was in exile on the island of Guernsey.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Souvenir of a Castle in Vosges
Artist:Victor Hugo (French, Besançon 1802–1885 Paris)
Date:1857
Medium:Brush and iron gall washes, pen and iron gall ink, white gouache; outline of castle obtained by using a paper stencil
Dimensions:sheet: 18 1/2 x 12 3/16 in. (47 x 31 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Purchase, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, Donald Young Foundation Gift, Harry G. Sperling Fund, and Mr. and Mrs. David M. Tobey Gift, 2012
Accession Number:2012.17
Signature: At lower left: “Victor Hugo/Guernesey 1857”
Inscription: At bottom center: “Souvenir d’un burg des Vosges.”
Vendor: Eric Gillis
Galerie Charpentier. "L'Aquarelle Romantique et Contemporaine," 1944.
Maison de Victor Hugo. "Dessins de Victor Hugo," June 1971–October 1971.
Musée Victor Hugo. "Dessins de Victor Hugo," November 1971–January 1972.
Victoria and Albert Museum. "Drawings by Victor Hugo," 1974.
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. "Soleil d'Encre: Manuscripts et Dessins de Victor Hugo," October 3, 1985–January 5, 1986.
Bibliothèque nationale de France. "Victor Hugo, l'homme océan," March 20, 2002–June 23, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," August 27–November 18, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paper Chase: Two Decades of Collecting Drawings and Prints," December 9, 2014–March 16, 2015.
Hammer Museum. "Stones and Stains: The Drawings of Victor Hugo," September 23, 2018–December 30, 2018.
Benjamin Péret Minotaure "Ruines: ruine des ruines". Albert Skira, nos. 12-13, Paris, May 1939, p. 58, ill.
Galerie Charpentier L'Aquarelle romantique et contemporaine. Paris, 1944, cat. no. 160, ill.
Gaëtan Picon, Roger Cornaille, Georges Herscher Victor Hugo dessinateur. Paris, 1963, cat. no. 127, pp. 89, 121, ill.
Pierre Georgel, Maison de Victor Hugo Dessins de Victor Hugo. Paris, 1971, cat. no. 108, pp. 170-171, ill.
Pierre Georgel, Victoria and Albert Museum Drawings by Victor Hugo. London, 1974, cat. no. 53, ill.
Jacqueline Lafargue Victor Hugo: dessins et lavis. Paris, 1983, p. 121, ill.
Judith Petit, Roger Pierrot, Marie-Laure Prévost, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris Soleil d'encre: manuscripts et dessins du Victor Hugo. Paris, 1985, cat. no. 181, pp. 136-149, ill.
Marie-Laure Prévost, Bibliothèque nationale de France Victor Hugo, l'homme océan. Paris, 2002, cat. no. 163, p. 205, ill.
Constance C. McPhee et al. "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2010-2012." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 70, no. 2, Fall 2012, pp. 58-59, ill.
Cynthia Burlingham, Allegra Pesenti, Florian Rodari, Hammer Museum Stones to Stains: The Drawings of Victor Hugo. DelMonico Books, Los Angeles, CA, 2018, pp. 84, ill.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
