Attack on Notre-Dame
1876-1877
This dramatic illustration by François-Nicolas Chifflart depicts a pivotal scene from Victor Hugo's *The Hunchback of Notre-Dame*, where a massive mob of beggars known as the 'Court of Miracles' storms the cathedral to rescue Esmeralda. Defending his home, the bell-ringer Quasimodo pours streams of molten lead from the upper galleries, creating glowing rivers of destruction against the dark, chaotic crowd below. Chifflart was a close friend of Hugo and created over 100 illustrations for his novels, essentially becoming the visual voice of the author's dark Romantic imagination.
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