"Léopoldine in the Book of Hours" can be dated to 1835, the inscription on canvas possibly relating either to the beginning or the end of the execution or to its commission for Léopoldine's (daughter of Victor Hugo) eleventh birthday.
It was in this year that the young child began to go to catechism, which the book of hours seems to symbolize.
The portrait is of great iconographic interest for the indication it can give about the apartment on the Place Royale: the armchair, the 15th century Book of Hours, open on a miniature of the Dormition of the Virgin of which it is likely that it belonged to Victor Hugo.
Auguste de Châtillon | Léopoldine in the Book of Hours, 1835 | Maison de Victor Hugo
"Léopoldine in the Book of Hours" is of course to be compared to "Portrait of Victor Hugo with his son (François-)Victor" by the same Auguste de Châtillon (1808-1881) and which dates from 1836.
This painting which was therefore hung on the walls of the apartment on Place Royale was entrusted to the custody of Paul Meurice after the sale of the writer's furniture in 1852.
She then joined the poet in exile.
Remaining at Hauteville House, it was given to the City at the same time as the residence in 1927.
It was brought back to Paris in 1947. | Source: © Paris Musées
Auguste de Châtillon | Victor Hugo and his son François-Victor, 1836 | Maison de Victor Hugo, Paris
"Léopoldine nel Libro d'Ore" può essere datato al 1835, l'iscrizione su tela si riferisce forse all'inizio od alla fine dell'esecuzione od alla sua commissione per l'undicesimo compleanno di Léopoldine, figlia dello scrittore Francese Victor Hugo.
Fu in quest'anno che la bambina cominciò a frequentare il catechismo, di cui il Libro delle Ore sembra simboleggiare.
Il ritratto è di grande interesse iconografico per l'indicazione che può dare sull'appartamento di Place Royale: la poltrona, il Libro d'Ore del XV secolo, aperto su una miniatura della Dormizione della Vergine, di cui è probabile che appartenesse Victor Hugo.
"Léopoldine nel Libro d'Ore" è ovviamente da paragonare al "Ritratto di Victor Hugo con suo figlio (François-)Victor" dello stesso Auguste de Châtillon (1808-1881) e che risale al 1836.
Il dipinto appeso alle pareti dell'appartamento di Place Royale, fu affidato alla custodia di Paul Meurice, dopo la vendita dei mobili dello scrittore nel 1852.
Lei raggiunse poi il poeta in esilio.
Rimasta alla Casa d'Altavilla, fu donata alla Città contemporaneamente alla residenza nel 1927. Fu riportata a Parigi nel 1947. | Fonte: © Musei di Parigi
Auguste de Châtillon (1808-1881) was a French painter, sculptor and poet. He was born and died in Paris.
He, Théophile Gautier, Gérard de Nerval and Arsène Houssaye formed the "bohème du Doyenné".
He first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1831, initially painting portraits of subjects such as Gautier, Victor Hugo and Hugo's family, including one of Hugo and his son François-Victor and another of Hugo's daughter Léopoldine.
He designed costumes for Hugo's 1832 premiere Le Roi s’amuse and painted the woodwork in de Nerval's living room.
He lived in New Orleans from 1844 to 1851 and on his return to France published a poetry collection in 1855 entitled Chant et poésie, which was twice republished and expanded under the title À la Grand'Pinte, poésies d'Auguste de Châtillon in 1860 and as Les Poésies d'Auguste Châtillon in 1866.
In the preface to the 1855 edition, Gautier wrote of the writer-painter "he reconciles simplicity and artifice, and his poems can bawl at the cabaret and sign in the living-room".
In a short letter to him on 8 April 1869, Hugo wrote "There is something in you of La Fontaine's easy grace combined with an extra melancholy charm".
The collection includes works in both Romantic and earlier styles, portraits of the time and evocations of Montmartre and New Orleans.
The two most noted poems at the time were À la Grand’Pinte and La Levrette en paletot.
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