Signed, hand-written letter to dear friends [Monsieur and Madame Dispan]

Bourdelle was 24 years old and had recently moved into a studio at 16 Impasse du Maine when he wrote this letter to a couple of friends, Thérèse (1875-1933) and Louis Dispan de Floran (1869-1922). 
Their close friendship is demonstrated by their extensive correspondence (1886-1909).  
The main interest of this letter lies in its detailed description of a major event: Victor Hugo's state funeral. The coffin lay in state under the Arc de Triomphe on 31 May 1885 and was then carried to the Panthéon on 1 June. The young sculptor recounted it as follows (Translated from French): “Mourning crape draped on the corner of the Arc de l’Étoile. Flags covered in crape, the gaslights [?] on all day. Large tripods at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe with huge flames. Painters and artists everywhere. I queued up the day before the burial to pass in front of his body on display, I suffered four hours of suffocation and crushing, to see nothing and to my great regret, I never saw Hugo.” “[...] Victor Hugo? Just ask yourself. I can't believe he's dead, and yet! I was at the funeral, following the cortege that left the Arc de l’Étoile at 11 o'clock and walked until 8 o'clock in the evening to the Panthéon. I carried a Montauban wreath. There were countless wreaths, covering the steps of the Panthéon. The coffin had lain in state all night under the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile at the foot of a catafalque that filled the full height of the arch. Cuirassier soldiers lit the stage with torches, and the whole of Paris was there. Victor Hugo was carried in a pauper’s hearse, and his grandson walked alone a few steps behind. Then came the Hugo family, delegations, etc. […] We have all written verses, made drawings, paintings and prose. I was one of the first to learn of his death at Mr de Hérédia’s salon, where I was in the company of Mr Pouvillon and Mr Pomairols. […] I wrote a quatrain for a Montauban wreath and one to place at the foot of the coffin.” Bourdelle illustrated his account with a sketch of the catafalque beneath the Arc de Triomphe, with a long black crape across it, the tripods on either side and the crowd gathered around it. He copied two poems, one of which was “written in the crowd on 31 May during the lying-in-state under the Arc de Triomphe”: “To Victor Hugo / Your soul will rise out of its veils / Into the bright sky of immortality / That is how we see eternity / Slowly increasing the number of stars”. 

Claire Boisserolles