http://www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN (^63)
HERITAGE
Below: The Blue and
Red rooms
be seen anywhere; every surface – walls, ceilings
and oors – is a riot of carved wood, printed tiles and
tapestries. Secret doors are concealed in tapestried
walls, and cryptic messages are etched into the
woodwork, designed to intrigue visitors and, above
all, to make them think.
The Entrance Hall is a paean to Hugo’s Romantic
masterpiece, Notre-Dame de Paris: a dimly-lit Gothic
cathedral in miniature, with expanses of carved dark
wood and a crypt-like calm.
In the Billiard Room next door, family sketches,
photographs and portraits line the walls, including that
of Hugo’s daughter Léopoldine, who drowned in the
Seine aged 19. Poignant references to her are dotted
throughout the house.
The poet carved messages into the furniture, much
as a prisoner etches his initials into the walls of his cell.
Ave (‘Hello’) makes a cheery greeting in the entrance-
hall woodwork. Exilium vita est (‘Life is an exile’) is
carved above the doorway of the Dining Room, while
a giant double ‘H’ (for Hugo and Hauteville) in Delft
tiles dominates the replace.
Hugo was a man not known for his modesty; his
self-created motto Ego Hugo is emblazoned across
many of the furnishings.
Elsewhere, the ‘meaning’ of the decor – there is
always a meaning – is more obscure. In the Tapestry
Room that overlooks the pretty garden, Aubusson
tapestries were cut to t the space perfectly, the
wraparound pastoral scenes paying tribute to the
omnipresence of nature in Hugo’s works.
Hugo envisioned the ‘journey’ through the house as
a progression from darkness into light. As you ascend
the oors the prison-like gloom of the ground oor
gives way to the startling brightness of the upper rooms.
The interconnecting Red and Blue rooms on the rst
oor sparkle like a jewellery box. Gone is the heavy
dark wood, replaced by gilding, chinoiserie, damask
and lacquerware. The dazzling decor and curated
objets here recall Hugo’s theatrical Parisian apartment.
He had long been involved in creating stage sets for
his plays, and it shows.
There’s more stage-set chutzpah on display in the
second- oor Oak Gallery. Renaissance and Gothic
elements, Biblical and political references combine
to create a disquieting space that was conceived
as a bedroom, but became something else entirely.
The monumental four-poster at one end seems more like
an altar. The little skull on the headboard was a memento
mori given to the poet the year his daughter died.
PHOTOS: CHRIS GEORGE PHOTOGRAPHY/VISIT GUERNSEY
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