Louise DESNOS (1807 – 1878) - Portrait of Adèle Hugo

Louise DESNOS (Paris, 1807 – Abbeville, 1878)

Portrait of Adèle Hugo.

Circa 1842.
Oil on canvas. H: 88; W: 70 cm.

Exhibition: Salon des Artistes Vivants, Paris, 1842, no. 546: “Portrait of Mme H***,” listed as no. 1208 in the Register of Works for the 1842 Salon: “1 Portrait painting of Mme H. / Height: 90; Width: 74 cm.”

In the early 1840s, Adèle Hugo commissioned her portrait from Louise Desnos, a female artist who had been in vogue in the French capital for several years.
A student of Louis and Louise Hersent, with whom she lived and worked, she made her public debut at the 1831 Salon. Regularly exhibiting portraits of Parisian celebrities, probably thanks to the Hersents' network, she quickly rose to fame when the state acquired her Denier de la Veuve following the 1840 Salon. With this purchase for the royal collections, Desnos became one of only four female painters to be exhibited at the Musée du Luxembourg, which was dedicated to living artists.

The portrait of Madame Hugo was presented at the 1842 Salon alongside an ambitious canvas, La Consécration de sainte Geneviève à Dieu (The Consecration of Saint Genevieve to God), the artist's first history painting.
Desnos created a truly aristocratic and official portrait, faithful to the tradition of ceremonial portraiture. Seated confidently and gazing sternly in a sumptuous setting, Adèle Hugo appears as a notable figure, sure of her position and her place among the elite.

The ermine placed behind his back explicitly reaffirms for the viewer the nobility inherent in the character. Indeed, Victor Hugo became a viscount in 1837 upon the death of his brother, Eugène. The new Viscountess Hugo was particularly delighted with this new status, and the couple initially claimed their membership in the nobility. This is evidenced in particular by the commission of this portrait.
In this sense, Desnos' portrait is fundamentally different, both in its composition and its impact on the viewer, from a second portrait of Adèle Hugo painted a few years earlier by Louis Boulanger, a friend of the Hugo couple, in 1839.

By exhibiting prestigious models, Desnos demonstrated her new reputation, acquired through the expansion of her clientele to include the aristocracy. She thus established herself as a painter of the wealthy elite, who were eager for official portraits.
The portraits of the artist exhibited at the 1844 Salon, the high point of his career, depict influential models, whether from the military sphere, such as a general and an admiral, or more fashionable personalities such as Ekatarina Gagarine, sister of the highly influential Sophie Swetchine.
Desnos developed a highly recognizable style in his portraits. The particular attention paid to clothing and surroundings is undoubtedly a legacy of his masters, as are the fixed poses and frontal stance of his subjects. Several recurring stylistic elements can be observed in a number of works, notably the treatment of the pearls on the bracelets in the portraits of Adèle Hugo and Juliette Destailleurs (Ill. 3; 1846; kept at the Musée Carnavalet).
The background of our portrait, in the form of floral wallpaper, although new in 1842, would be reused by the artist and his circle in subsequent years. It can be seen in the 1844 portrait of Countess Gagarine (Ill. 4) and in the 1845 portrait of Louise Desnos by Louise Hersent (Ill. 5), her teacher. This distinctive green wallpaper seems to have actually existed, adorning a wall in the Hersents' home.