Hugo, Victor

French romantic author who also wrote about architecture. In 1832 Hugo wrote a book on the famous cathedral in Paris, Notre Dame. Hugo's publications were the backdrop for a number of important French illustrators. Among Hugo's favorite was Célestin Nanteuil (1813-73), who provided the frontispieces for the first edition of Notre-Dame de Paris. Later illustrated editions of Notre-Dame de Paris included those by Louis Boulanger and the Johannot Brothers in 1836, Aimé de Lemud (1816-87) in 1844, and Luc Olivier Merson in 1889. Dessins de Victor Hugo a book of his own drawings, appeared in 1862. His chapter "Paris à vol d'oiseau" in Notre dame de Paris was the inspiration for topographical analysis of Georgian architecture by John Newenham Summerson in Summerson's book of 1946.