Charles Méryon, Le petit pont (The little bridge), 1850, National Gallery of Victoria, purchased 1891.

Like Victor Hugo, artist Charles Méryon was passionate about preserving Paris’s medieval heritage, especially buildings such as Notre Dame. The cathedral was in a ruinous state until Hugo’s eponymous novel and Méryon’s etchings inspired popular support for its restoration. Hugo wrote of Méryon: ‘The breath of the universe breathes through all his works, and makes his etchings more than pictures – visions.’

Charles Marville, Rue de Fontaines, c 1863–69, State Library of Victoria.

Charles Marville trained as a painter and engraver before taking up the new medium of photography in 1850. His most remarkable achievement is the series of photographs he made for the Service des Travaux Historiques (Agency of Historic Works), documenting the narrow streets and old houses condemned to destruction in the Haussmann redevelopment of Paris. The State Library holds one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Marville’s work.

Victor Hugo, autographed excerpt from La Sagesse (Wisdom), 1835, State Library of Victoria.

As fragments of poetry, theatre or prose came to mind, Hugo scribbled them down on loose sheets of paper, later incorporating them into his manuscripts. These lines (later published in a longer poem) read: ‘fais passer ton esprit à travers la douleur, comme le grain du crible, il sortira meilleur’ (make your spirit go through pain like grain through a sieve – it will come out improved).

Gustave Brion, ‘Javert’, 1862, in Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, London, 1887, State Library of Victoria.

The obsessive policeman Inspector Javert pursues Jean Valjean relentlessly for nearly 20 years, refusing to recognise his genuine metamorphosis from desperate thief to moral man. Javert, though uncompromising, is not evil; rather, he embodies the moral failure of the state when laws are enforced indiscriminately and without mercy.

Émile Bayard, ‘Cosette’, c 1886, in Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, London, 1887, State Library of Victoria.

Born to an unwed factory worker and raised by the abusive Monsieur and Madame Thénardiers, Cosette seems destined for tragedy, but her star rises when she is adopted by Jean Valjean. Émile Bayard’s tender drawing of the enslaved child, dwarfed by the instruments of her labour, was created for the second illustrated edition of Les Misérables; it became iconic of the Boublil and Schönberg musical production.

Auguste Rodin, Victor Hugo, buste dit À l’illustre maître (Victor Hugo, bust known as ‘To the illustrious master’), 1883, Musée Rodin.

In 1883 Auguste Rodin, the rising star of French sculpture, decided to concentrate on sculpting famous figures of his day. Victor Hugo was one of his first choices. Hugo refused to pose but did allow Rodin to observe and sketch him, resulting in this (and other) busts. In 1889 Rodin was commissioned to sculpt a funerary monument to Hugo, who had died in 1885.

Chocolate-wrapper designs based on a theatre production of Les Misérables, c 1890, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Victor Hugo’s son Charles and friend Paul Meurice were the first to adapt Les Misérables for the theatre, launching their production in Brussels in 1863, just months after the novel’s publication. Like today, early theatrical adaptations of the story were accompanied by merchandise, such as these chocolate wrappers decorated with scenes from a production of the 1890s.

Ottavio Rodella Tavio, poster for I Miserabili di Victor Hugo (Les Misérables by Victor Hugo), 1890, Bibliothèque nationale de France

Simultaneous editions of Les Misérables were published in France and Belgium in 1862, selling out within days. Hugo’s Belgian publishers employed several translators and from June 1862 onwards, just two months after its first release, the novel was published in nine languages and in serialised volumes around the world, from New York to St Petersburg, London to Rio de Janeiro.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, New York, Classics Illustrated no 9, 1950, State Library of Victoria.

Victor Hugo’s epic narrative has been enthusiastically adapted by artists working in all media, including graphic novelists and comic artists. The Classics Illustrated series was created to make world literature more accessible to young readers. Its visual interpretation of the story draws on some of the iconography established by Gustave Brion for the first illustrated edition of Les Misérables (1862).

Andreane Neofitou, costume design for Enjolras, Les Misérables, 1985, courtesy Andreane Neofitou.

Because of her experience as a fashion designer, Andreane Neofitou has said: ‘I feel I’m not a costumier, I make characters…and I want the actors to feel they are not wearing costumes but everyday clothes’. Neofitou immersed herself in early-19th-century French newspapers and magazines to gain a detailed understanding of what fashionable men and women of the time wore.

Normie Rowe as Jean Valjean and Philip Quast as Javert, Les Misérables, Sydney, 1987; photograph Michael Le Poer Trench © Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.

Normie Rowe, once Australia’s ‘king of pop’, initially hoped to play Monsieur Thénardier in the 1987 Australian production of Les Misérables. When he was asked to audition singing Jean Valjean’s ode of self-recognition, ‘Who am I?’, Rowe didn’t believe he had the vocal range, but he surprised himself by hitting top C. Thanks to that, and the emotional depth the director perceived in the Vietnam veteran, Normie Rowe got the part.

Les Misérables flyer, Princess Theatre, Melbourne, © 1989 Cameron Mackintosh (Overseas) Ltd.

The first important post-Broadway production of Les Misérables the musical was Australian, opening in Sydney in November 1987. The critics were enthusiastic, unlike when the show first opened in London. The production moved on to Melbourne and the nation’s other major cities before ending in Auckland, New Zealand, having run for 1337 performances.

Andreane Neofitou, costume designer; costume for Cosette, act 2 (wedding scene), Les Misérables, 1987; Cameron Mackintosh Australia Pty Ltd.

Worn during the 1980s Australian tour of Les Misérables, which opened on 27 November 1987, this beautifully decorated costume was designed by Andreane Neofitou for the wedding scene in Act 2, featuring Cosette and Marius.

Victor Hugo, Les Misérables, vol 1, 1845–62, autograph manuscript, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Exhibited for the first time outside Europe, Hugo’s manuscript of Les Misérables is considered a national treasure of France. The novel was written over 17 years (1845–62), a tumultuous period for Hugo personally, as a political exile, but also for Europe, which was rocked by popular uprisings in 1848. The manuscript’s annotations and revisions indicate the political and creative road Hugo travelled while writing his greatest work.