Research Catalog

Title

[La Esmeralda] [graphic] / Ad. Lalauze inv. ; Ad. Lalauze sc.

Author

Lalauze, Adolphe, 1838-1906.

Publication

[188-?]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

1 print : etching, one color (sepia); 31 x 22 cm., plate mark 23 x 17 cm.

Summary

Portrayal of the Gypsy girl Esmeralda, the principal character in Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame de Paris (1831), dancing with a tambourine, her pet goat Djali behind her. At left, a harpist and a lutenist accompany her. She is watched by a crowd of men and women, some wearing beggars' rags. In the background are medieval buildings, their second stories overhanging the street; the structure at far right is adorned by projecting gargoyles.

Subjects

• Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885 > Notre-Dame de Paris
• Etchings
• Esmeralda (Fictitious character)

Genre/Form

Etchings.

Note

• Signed on plate.
• Handwritten in pencil at lower left: Plate 89.
• Title devised by cataloger.

Biography (note)

• This illustration appears to have been made for Hugo's play La Esmeralda rather than his novel Notre-Dame de Paris, and was probably published in more than one edition of Hugo's dramas. The Parisian periodical Revue illustrée, vol. 5, 1888, describes it in a review of an edition published by Emile Testard. After mentioning that it is the largest of five illustrations, "une grande eau-forte hors texte représentant la cour de Miracles," it continues, "La Esmeralda, vive et gracieuse, danse pendant que les truands font cercle autour d'elle. Ces planches, composées et gravées par M. Lalauze, forment un délicieux ensemble d'illustration qui fait grand honneur à l'habile aquafortiste si apprecié des amateurs."
• Esmeralda, a beautiful and good-hearted Gypsy girl, was created by Victor Hugo as the charismatic central figure of his novel Notre-Dame de Paris, known in English as The hunchback of Notre Dame. She attracts the love or lust of several of the male characters, among them the hunchback Quasimodo, the sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo, the poet Pierre Gringoire, and the soldier Phoebus de Chateaupers. In 1836 Hugo wrote the libretto for Louise Bertin's opera La Esmeralda, presented at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris, but it was not a success. Jules Perrot's ballet adaptation, also titled La Esmeralda, was staged at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1844. It gave the story a happy ending, and perhaps not coincidentally enjoyed much greater longevity. The ballet's first scene was set in the ironically named Cour de Miracles seen in this print, a dangerous district of Paris inhabited by the Truands, a group that included thieves, pickpockets, and other unsavory characters.
• The French artist Adolphe Lalauze frequently illustrated stories and novels.

Call Number

*MGZFX Lala A Esm 1

OCLC

825562874

Author

Lalauze, Adolphe, 1838-1906.

Title

[La Esmeralda] [graphic] / Ad. Lalauze inv. ; Ad. Lalauze sc.

Imprint

[188-?]

Biography

This illustration appears to have been made for Hugo's play La Esmeralda rather than his novel Notre-Dame de Paris, and was probably published in more than one edition of Hugo's dramas. The Parisian periodical Revue illustrée, vol. 5, 1888, describes it in a review of an edition published by Emile Testard. After mentioning that it is the largest of five illustrations, "une grande eau-forte hors texte représentant la cour de Miracles," it continues, "La Esmeralda, vive et gracieuse, danse pendant que les truands font cercle autour d'elle. Ces planches, composées et gravées par M. Lalauze, forment un délicieux ensemble d'illustration qui fait grand honneur à l'habile aquafortiste si apprecié des amateurs."

Esmeralda, a beautiful and good-hearted Gypsy girl, was created by Victor Hugo as the charismatic central figure of his novel Notre-Dame de Paris, known in English as The hunchback of Notre Dame. She attracts the love or lust of several of the male characters, among them the hunchback Quasimodo, the sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo, the poet Pierre Gringoire, and the soldier Phoebus de Chateaupers. In 1836 Hugo wrote the libretto for Louise Bertin's opera La Esmeralda, presented at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris, but it was not a success. Jules Perrot's ballet adaptation, also titled La Esmeralda, was staged at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1844. It gave the story a happy ending, and perhaps not coincidentally enjoyed much greater longevity. The ballet's first scene was set in the ironically named Cour de Miracles seen in this print, a dangerous district of Paris inhabited by the Truands, a group that included thieves, pickpockets, and other unsavory characters.

The French artist Adolphe Lalauze frequently illustrated stories and novels.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Connect to:

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Research Call Number

*MGZFX Lala A Esm 1