CAST BY SUSSE FRÈRES, PARIS, FROM THE MODEL BY AIMÉ-JULES DALOU, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Les Châtiments (The Punishments) is a collection of satirical poems written by Victor Hugo as a protest against the coup d'état and rule of Emperor Napoleon III. Dalou made this relief depicting Les Châtiments so that an etching could be taken from it as a frontispiece for an edition of Victor Hugo's work. The plaster of circa 1885 is in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris (RF 2464) and Dalou exhibited a bronze cast of it at the Salon in 1890 (N° 1259). On 26 July 1899 Dalou authorised the Susse Frères foundry to edit the bas-relief in bronze.