Léopoldine Hugo
Léopoldine Hugo | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Léopoldine Hugo. Painted by Auguste de Châtillon in 1836, on the day of her first communion. | |
| Born | Léopoldine Cécile Marie-Pierre Catherine Hugo 28 August 1824 |
| Died | 4 September 1843 (aged 19) |
| Nationality | French |
| Spouse | Charles Vacquerie (m. 1843) |
| Parent(s) | Victor Hugo Adèle Foucher |
Léopoldine Cécile Marie-Pierre Catherine Hugo (28 August 1824 – 4 September 1843) was the eldest daughter of Victor Hugo and Adèle Foucher.
Early life[edit]
Léopoldine was born in Paris, the second of five children and eldest daughter of Victor Hugo and Adèle Foucher. She was named after her paternal grandfather, Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo,[1] as was her late brother, Léopold, who died in infancy.
Despite her father's growing anti-clerical views, Léopoldine grew up as a devout Catholic. Her first communion, which took place in September 1836, was a grand affair. Auguste de Châtillon painted a portrait of her for the day, and the mass was attended by Théophile Gautier, Alexandre Dumas, and members of the Hugo family. A banquet was held at her family's Paris residence afterward.[2]
Léopoldine had many suitors for marriage including her future husband, Charles Vacquerie, whom she met while on holiday in 1839.[3]
Later life and death[edit]
She married Charles Vacquerie at Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis on 15 February 1843, but they both drowned together only a few months later, when their boat overturned on the Seine in Villequier on 4 September 1843. Nineteen years old and pregnant, she died when her wet, heavy skirts pulled her down, and her husband died trying to save her. This tragic event had a great impact on the work and personality of her father, Victor Hugo. He dedicated numerous poems to the memory of his daughter, notably Demain dès l'aube and À Villequier in Pauca Meae, the fourth book of Les Contemplations. Victor Hugo did not write for several years afterwards owing to the clinical depression he developed following Léopoldine's death.
Notes[edit]
- ^ Graham, Robb. Victor Hugo: A Biography. W.W. Norton, 1997, p. 682.
- ^ Harrison, Carol E. (11 March 2014). Romantic Catholics: France's Postrevolutionary Generation in Search of a Modern Faith. ISBN 9780801470592.
- ^ "Léopoldine Hugo Vacquerie Hauteville House Maison d'exil de Victor Hugo à Guernesey".
External links[edit]
- (in French) Complete text of Contemplations, on Wikisource
- (in French) The Maison Vacquerie, in Villequier, houses the departemental Museum of Victor Hugo
- Reely's Poetry Pages Hear "Demain, des l'aube"
- Léopoldine – Série Noire (Swiss popband) Video on YouTube, musical version of the poem "Demain, dès l'aube," written by Léopoldine's father Victor Hugo
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