Hugo, Victor. (1802 - 1885) [J. Kuhn]
Original Photograph of Funeral Procession
Rare and striking original photograph of the famous funeral procession of Victor Hugo, attended by more than 2 million people on June 1, 1885 in Paris. Original albumen photograph, with the raised stamp of the photographer Kuhn of Paris in the lower right corner. Horizontal crease in lower sixth of plate, minor tears to edges, otherwise fine. 24.3 x 18.3 cm."Hugo died at 1:30 in the afternoon on May 22, 1885...now Paris came to bury the greatest modern French poet. No funeral of the nineteenth century...could equal the Romantic fervor of this event. For the critic Roger Shattuck (The Banquet Years), the death of Hugo signaled the end of the nineteenth century and ushered in modernism." (John Andrew Frey, "A Victor Hugo Encyclopedia," p. 102)
"Although rain fell during the night and there was every indication in the early morning of more rain, hundreds of thousands of people were abroad at daybreak, crowding the streets and boulevards through which the great procession was to move that accompanied the body of Victor Hugo to his last resting place in the Pantheon...From all directions came deputations with draped banners and bearing flowers and gigantic wreaths, and all moving in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe, the Mecca of France today. Never did Paris present such a scene...The funeral procession started punctually at noon. The threatening clouds of the morning had disappeared by this time and the sun shone forth brilliantly. Many chariots heaped with the offerings of the people of France followed the body in the procession. Enormous crowds of people lined the streets that formed the route of the procession while other masses of people posessed the intersecting streets for a great distance on either side. The buildings were black with people, as was indeed every point from which could be had a view of the unparalleled spectacle. The procession as it left the Arc de Triomphe moved in the following order: First a squadron of the Republican Guards, then the General commanding with his staff. After these came a regiment of Cuirassiers headed by its band and the drum corps of three regiments. These formed the escort proper for the funeral procession, while along its line on both sides was constantly heard the roll of muffled drums. Preceding the body were 12 cars laden with wreaths and flowers." (New York Times, June 2, 1885) (5730)
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