The Hunchback of Notre-Dame illustration 

This illustration by Luc-Olivier Merson depicts a scene from Victor Hugo's novel, *The Hunchback of Notre-Dame*. Made in an era when the public role of art was intensely debated, Merson evokes the medieval period. He highlights the story’s themes of social injustice and the grotesque. Here, Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer, etches the word "ANATKH" – fate – into the walls of Notre Dame, a Gothic monument central to French national identity. Consider the institutional history of the Church in nineteenth-century France, marked by revolutionary upheaval and secularization. Merson's illustration reminds us of the power of the written word, even in its most rudimentary form, to challenge established authority and articulate the experience of the marginalized. To fully appreciate Merson's image, one might consult Hugo's novel itself. Researching the history of the Notre Dame cathedral, or the social context of nineteenth-century French art, can provide further layers of meaning. Art speaks when we contextualize it.