1881
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Notre-Dame de Paris is a 1881 by Luc-Olivier Merson, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see the dark hulk of Notre-Dame cathedral at night, its towers looming over a quiet square. Merson made this drawing for a book honoring Victor Hugo, whose novel *Notre-Dame de Paris* had turned the old church into a symbol of medieval Paris. The quiet, almost eerie mood matches the book’s atmosphere—no crowds, just shadows and stone. If you like this mood, look up chiaroscuro—the way artists use light and dark to create drama.
Victor Hugo's celebrated 1831 novel Notre-Dame de Paris tells the story of Quasimodo, a disfigured orphan raised by the archdeacon of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Hugo's novel became an important influence on many artists and helped to define a poetic view of the medieval period and of Gothic architecture that lasted well into the second half of the century. This drawing by Luc-Olivier Merson was reproduced as a wood engraving in an illustrated tribute to Hugo published in 1881.
After creating this drawing, Luc-Olivier Merson went on to illustrate an important 1889 edition of Notre-Dame de Paris , one of the major projects of his career.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Luc-Olivier Merson (21 May 1846 - 13 November 1920) was a French academic painter and illustrator. He was also known for his postage stamp and currency designs.
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