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Open 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Visit
Open today 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights
Starting June 3
Exhibitions & Events
Featured event:

Block Party
Join us June 6
Art & Artists
Open Call

Artists Reimagining the Collection
Meet the 50 makers selected from more than 1,600 submissions

L'Eclair (Lightning)

1868

Victor Hugo

Associated Names

Victor Hugo

Artist, French, 1802 - 1885

The image shows a landscape with ruins and rugged terrain. The viewpoint is slightly elevated. The horizon is placed in the upper third of the composition with tall, dark structures against the night sky. The artwork uses intricate cross-hatching and line work for texture and shadows. The color palette is monochromatic in black and white, enhancing contrast. There are rough formations and remnants of walls or arches nearby, leading towards the distant structures. The background features a thickly inked sky.

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Artwork overview

Medium

etching in black on laid paper (facing _L'Eclair_ by Paul Meurice)
Credit Line

Gift of Richard A. Simms, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
Dimensions

plate: 21.7 x 14.5 cm (8 9/16 x 5 11/16 in.)
page size: 35.5 x 25.5 cm (14 x 10 1/16 in.)
Accession Number

1991.26.1.dd

Sonnets et Eaux-Fortes (Sonnets and Etchings)

Alphonse Lemerre

1869

La Mer (The Sea)

Léon Gaucherel

1869

La Pivoine (The Peony)

Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart

1869

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1991

Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, 158-159, color repro.

1995

Prints by James McNeill Whistler and His Contemporaries, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995, as The Peony by Jules-Ferdinand Jacquemart after Judith Mendès.

Inscriptions

across bottom in plate: Victor Hugo 1868

Wikidata ID

Q74887761

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