The Victor Hugo Monument That Never Made It into the Pantheon

This sculpture is Rodin's model for a monument to Victor Hugo. Four years after Hugo's death, Rodin was commissioned to create a monument of him for the Pantheon in Paris. Trying to decide what image would best represent Hugo, Rodin ultimately chose to depict him during his three years of exile on the island of Jersey.

In the sculpture, Hugo holds his right hand to his ear as if listening to the voices of his muses, while his outstretched left arm seems to calm a raging sea. The finished version was meant to include three goddesses standing behind Hugo, but since this is only a preparatory study, they don't appear here.

In the end, though, the judges didn't select this design, and it never found a place in the Pantheon. The jury at the time wanted something more traditional, and Rodin considered revising the piece to show Hugo in a suit instead — but he never finished that revision.