Real-life Quasimodo uncovered in Tate archives - Paris, France - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

The August 15, 2010 edition of the British newspaper, The Telegraph carried this story (visit link) :

"Real-life Quasimodo uncovered in Tate archives
By Roya Nikkhah, Arts Correspondent

With his hunched back and deformed face, Quasimodo, the tragic hero of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunch Back of Notre Dame, has always been considered a mythical creation drawn from the depths of the author's imagination.

But a new discovery appears to reveal the real-life inspiration behind the character from Hugo's seminal novel, which tells the story of the deaf bell-ringer of Notre Dame and his unrequited love for the gipsy girl Esmeralda.

Clues suggesting that Quasimodo is based on a historical figure have been uncovered in the memoirs of Henry Sibson, a 19th-century British sculptor who was employed at the cathedral at around the time the book was written and who describes a hunched back stonemason also working there.

The documents were acquired by the Tate Archive in 1999 after they were discovered in the attic of a house in Penzance, Cornwall, as the owner prepared to move out.

However, the references to a "hunchback sculptor" working at Notre Dame have only just been discovered, as the memoirs are catalogued ahead of the archive's 40th anniversary this year.

The seven-volume memoirs document Sibson's time in Paris during the 1820s, when he was employed by contractors to work on repairs to Notre Dame Cathedral."

There is also a reference to this story on the Wikipedia "Quasimodo" page at (visit link)

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 08/15/2010 Publication: The Daily Telegraph Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: national News Category: Arts/Culture

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