The plate dedicated to Victor Hugo (1802-1885) portrays the poet, surrounded by eglantine roses (the spikes represent his satirical poetry) in a stormy sky, striking down Napoleon III and his crown with his 1853 collection, Les Châtiments, which denounces the coup d’état of the former president. The forehead of the writer expands to accommodate a large white globe evoking both the bright light of a full moon and the prophetic dimension of a divinely inspired poet. Hugo went into exile in 1852 and only came back to France after the fall of the Second Empire in September 1870.

Paris (16, rue du Croissant): Au Bureau de l’Eclipse, [1871]

CUL, 8001.b.156