Victor HUGO (1802-1885). Original drawing, signed lower righ - Lot 27

Victor HUGO (1802-1885). Original drawing, signed lower right and located, Puente de los contrebandistas, [1868]; 24.5x16.8cm on strong paper (framed). Magnificent drawing of the smugglers' bridge in the Pyrenees. Pen and brown and black ink wash. Signed lower right and located: "Victor Hugo / Pyrénées - Puente de los contrabandistas". This drawing was a gift from Victor Hugo to Jules Claretie in December 1868; the drawing had been entrusted to Auguste Vacquerie for delivery to Claretie, to whom Hugo wrote on December 31 (see letter in the following issue): "C'est el puente de los contrabandistas. I saw this in the Pyrenees as a child. The Pont des Contrebandiers was terrible. It was used by smugglers as a bridge, and by the law as a gallows. They were hanged from the beams"... Provenance: Jules CLARETIE; Drouot sale (Mathias-Le Roux), December 8, 1986, no. 141. This drawing will appear in Mr. Pierre Georgel's catalog of Victor Hugo's drawings.