Portrait of Victor Hugo

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Victor Hugo is widely regarded as 'The Bust to The Illustrious Master'. In 1883, journalist Edmond Bazire urged Rodin to create a portrait of a renowned man to boost his own reputation. He introduced Rodin to Victor Hugo, who declined to sit for the sculptor but welcomed him into his home on the Avenue d'Eylau and allowed Rodin to sketch him while he ate or napped in the afternoon. Rodin made quick sketches of the poet's head from various angles on the palm of his hand or cigarette papers before hurrying out to the veranda, where he set up his sculptor's turntable to reproduce in clay what he had hastily jotted down. The technique of drawing from memory, which Rodin learned from Lecoq de Boisbaudran, proved extremely useful. The portrait was completed in 1883, two years before Hugo passed away. Rodin, who admired poets like Dante and Baudelaire, inscribed 'À l'illustre maître' on the lower neck of the bust as a final tribute to the poet. He later reworked the bust to produce an even more refined version, cut off below the lapel of the poet's frock coat, and without a base.