The Real Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Experts uncover the inspiration behind the famous Victor Hugo character

Esmaralda gives Quasimodo a drink of water (1903). Edited by the author. By Luc-Olivier Merson from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).

Powerful fiction can generate questions about its origins. Could certain ideas just spring wholesale from an author’s imagination? Authors are, after all, part of a society, so it is plausible to expect that real-life interactions could provide the seed for a creation. Some have puzzled over potential real-life connections in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Almost two centuries after its publication, we have learned about the origin of the story’s titular character.

Documents whisper about lives

In the early 1820s, the ambitious British sculptor Henry Sibson travelled to Paris, where he worked on the renovation of Notre-Dame de Paris. The famous cathedral suffered damage during the French Revolution decades prior, during which it had been a temple to Cult of Reason and Cult of the Supreme Being.

The feast of reason at Notre-Dame on November 10, 1793. Edited by the author. By Charles Louis Müller from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).

Sibson’s new assignment was not a delight, though. The contractors failed to supply him with the needed instruments. All this led Sibson to have a serious argument with one contractor, Mr. Plantor. The British sculptor…