A unique engraving of Rodin's 'Victor Hugo'. A recent acquisition at the Musee Rodin

Rodin dreaming of sculpting a bust portrait of Victor Hugo and realised his aim through the agency of Edmond Bazire, a close friend of the poet. Hugo, at the height of his fame and in his twilight years, declined to sit for the sculptor but accepted to open his house to him during three months, from February to April 1883. Although Rodin had installed his turntable in the veranda of the poet's mansion in Avenue d'Eylau in Paris, he encountered genuine difficulties in focussing a mental image of his model and, in an unusual step, had recourse to numerous surreptitiously executed sketches. It was only subsequently that Rodin produced two dry-point engravings (one a three-quarter, the other a full-face portrait), both executed after the bust exhibited at the 1884 Salon. The work discussed here is the only known print of a preliminary run that is unrecorded by either Delteil or Thorson. The unique nature of this "Victor Hugo de Troi Quarts" is enhanced by two dedications. The first of these was destined for Hugo himself, comparing the portrait to the figure in Michelangelo's "Day", while the second was for Bazire as a token of gratitude for a memorable episode.